# Aram Zucker-Scharff (@chronotope.aramzs.xyz)

Profile: https://sifa.id/p/chronotope.aramzs.xyz
Headline: Engineering Manager focused on monetization and advertising across The Washington Post's products and services. Working on the publisher side of ad tech.
Location: New York, New York, United States

## About

Aram Zucker-Scharff is the Engineering Manager for Advertising Engineering at The Washington Post. Previously he lead both development, process, compliance and the creation of new privacy-centered projects and built technical oversight for legal concerns around Washington Post data. He has been a consultant on content strategy and digital newsroom workflows. He was one of Folio Magazine’s 15 under 30 in the magazine media industry. He previously worked as Salon.com’s full stack developer and a strategist for CFO Magazine. He has also worked as a journalist, a community manager and a journalism educator and contributed to WordPress Core. He has appeared in The Atlantic, Digiday, Poynter, Nieman Lab, journalism.co.uk and Columbia Journalism Review.

Aram is a content creator with experience in both writing and information technology fields. Focused on creating interactive content for convergent technologies. Experience with web design and development, WordPress, ad tech, fiction writing, journalism, social media, community management, information technology systems, IT security, editing, and game design. Aram has worked to negotiate business contracts.

He has worked as a consultant to:
\- Real Estate Weekly newspaper
\- Northern Virginia Magazine
\- OneBlue TV
\- UPI
\- Nightmaremode.net
\- on_air
\- Center for History and New Media
\- CFO Magazine
\- SES GS
\- OpenReporter  He has run workshops on: -Search Engine Optimization -Social Media Optimization -Free Web Tools for Journalists -Blogging -Personal and Organizational Branding -Usable and Responsive Web Design -WordPress Plugin Development -Aggregation Techniques and Strategy  Specialties: Content creation and optimization, social media, SEO, website development, game design, network repair, computer repair, network security, training.

WordPress Core contributor, contributions in: 4.2.

## Experience

- **Prose Editor at Volition Magazine** (2007 – 2008)
  Reviewed all prose submissions and selected submissions for publication.
  
  Coordinated with other editors and the editor-in-chief.
  
  Helped manage Mason's undergraduate literary and art magazine.
- **New Media, SEO and SMO Consultant, Freelance Web Developer at Self** (2012 – present)
  Provides consulting and development for online media.
  
  Developed and deployed a number of new websites.
  
  Project managed website redesigns.
  
  Provide knowledge, advice and training on branding, marketing, social media, new media, search engine optimization and online public relations.
  
  Apply responsive design and user experience improvements to existing properties.
  
  Provided social media, WordPress and SEO training to select professors and classes at George Mason University.
  
  Developed day-long Alternate Reality Game (The Hunt 2) with puzzle focus.
  
  Launched a JSON API focused on showcasing networks on WordPresss MultiSite.
  
  Trained a rising cadre of aspiring developers in basic and advanced WordPress techniques.
  
  Consulted on Knight Foundation grant application.
  
  Work with clients to build WordPress themes and plugins.
  
  Write freelance on a variety of topics, including video games, narrative, web development, and new media.
- **Senior Staff Software Engineer at The Washington Post** (2024 – 2025)
  I lead Privacy Engineering and compliance efforts across The Washington Post including the implementation of technology that is concerned with privacy and compliance. I support work on systems impacted by those concerns. By approaching privacy as an opportunity, we build privacy as a product.
- **Engineering Lead for Privacy & Security Compliance at The Washington Post** (2021 – 2024)
  I lead the new Privacy Engineering team at The Washington Post where we collaborate closely with teams across the organization to represent privacy and compliance and, by approaching privacy as an opportunity, build privacy as a product.
- **Ad Engineering Director for Research, Experimentation and Development (RED) team at The Washington Post** (2017 – 2021)
  I am focused on developing and launching new ad products that will be offered to clients on and off the Washington Post. I also partner with technology teams across the organization, in particular the development of all RED tools in our Arc suite of products for licensing. I do detailed technical work to make our podcasts advertising systems work. I also have led privacy regulation compliance on the business engineering side of the organization, including working with vendors on CCPA.
  
  Additionally, I contribute on behalf of The Washington Post to the W3C.
- **Lead Developer at Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media** (2012 – 2020)
  Lead development of the PressForward plugin as the primary author of code for the project.
  
  Coordinates open source contributors.
- **Full Stack Developer at Salon Media Group, Inc.** (2015 – 2017)
  \- Launched significant upgrade to backend Content Management System (WordPress).
  \- Rebuilt front end theme to be fully responsive.
  \- Built custom platform-agnostic video viewer tool
  \- Rebuilt metadata and on-page tools to fully comply with social media platforms
  \- Worked closely with editorial and product to find and build out tools and workflow optimizations.
  \- Worked on editorial-driven projects, including a live election map.
  \- Built Gulp-based and Webkit workflows for using SASS and JSX across the entire organization.
  \- Worked with PHP, WordPress, MySQL, Javascript, Node, YUI, React, Reflux, Redux, and Foundation.
  \- Worked closely with sales and built significant ad tech and performance improvements.
  \- Built Facebook Instant Articles plugin and worked with Facebook Live API.
  \- Built out significant custom analytics for A/B testing, video and general KPIs.
  \- Built React/Reflux API-driven WordPress theme.
  \- Worked as primary contact between engineering and editorial teams.
  \- Led engineering team.
- **President at OnAir Networks** (2014 – 2017)
  Leadership on business and marketing strategy. Investigates and brings in talent. Training. Working to form company vision and mission.
- **Content Strategist at CFO** (2013 – 2015)
  Works with all divisions to leverage new technology, user experience data, and narrative design to improve overall web presence.
  
  Project managed multiple digital journalism projects.
  
  Developed and open-sourced plugins and developer tools.
  
  Trained journalists, marketing and sales staff in digital tools and strategies.
  
  Working with executive staff and sales to optimize digital sales channel.
  
  Designed, tested and deployed tools to increase engagement and create a better user experience.
- **Chief Technology Officer at OnAir Networks** (2012 – 2014)
  Leads development on knowledge management product.
- **Featured Blogger for The Voice of Young Voters at United Press International** (2008 – 2009)
  Wrote three times a week on the topic of the economy in the 2008 presidential transition.
  
  Worked with others writing on the same topic for the UPI feature site The Voice of Young Voters.
  
  Sparked a lively debate, building an audience, expressing opinions and ensuring that all sides of the youth vote were represented.
  
  Wrote a document, at the request of UPI, instructing future journalists on how to promote their work online.
- **Student Media Freelancer at George Mason University** (2008 – 2008)
  Sought out and covered my own leads.
  
  Wrote articles for online news and convergence site Connect2Mason.
  
  Wrote a multimedia events blog.
- **Resident Technician at George Mason University** (2007 – 2008)
  Maintained and repaired student computer systems on-site.
  
  Worked with student clients.
  
  Worked with the MAGIC ticket system.
  
  Monitored an advanced phone-system and instant message for help requests.
- **Managing Editor at Broadside** (2007 – 2008)
  Oversaw the proper formatting and insertion of national and local advertisements  Coordinated coverage of multiple campuses.
  
  Organized a team of editors and staff members.
  
  Oversaw organization and design of a weekly newspaper, checking news budgets and enforcing deadlines.
  
  Edited copy on 8 to 22 pages a week.
  
  Coordinated various internal sections.
  
  Provided support as a peer mentor to students.
  
  Hired and trained staff.
- **Assistant Director for Marketing and Communications, Office of Student Media at George Mason University** (2011 – 2012)
  Administrative Faculty  Engage students through social and traditional media. Oversee social media, including 18 Twitter accounts and eight Facebook accounts, to manage and build upon the online community that interacts with the university's brand and the office's content.
  
  Manage the onMason blogging and site-building platform to provide much-needed tools to the Mason community, build a greater audience for office content and increase traffic to student media properties.
  
  Engage high school students who are considering George Mason University, both online and in person.
  
  Build search engine and social media optimization into various student media web presences.
  
  Manage marketing and public relations for the office. Work to develop and strengthen outlet brands. Hire and supervise students specializing in these fields to expand reach and effectiveness.
  
  Increase ad sales and leverage non-traditional methods and platforms in order to boost revenue. Manage student ad sales staff.
  
  Represent Student Media in off-campus events and organizations that intersect our interests in order to create opportunities for collaboration, including Social Media Club DC, Online News Association, and DC Twestival. Also to represent Student Media at national and regional conferences and BarCamps, including the College Media Advisors NYC convention, WordCampNYC, BarCamp News Innovation Philly and various THATCamps.
  
  Represent Student Media at on-campus events including orientation, housing, admissions, fairs and conferences. Responsible for the highest number of freshmen signed up to participate to date.
  
  Develop, design, modify, and improve student media outlet websites. Guide students interested in learning and building their own websites.
- **Web Developer, Writer, Community Manager at Nightmare Mode** (2011 – 2012)
  Pitch, write and publish articles covering video games, game design and narrative design.
  
  Maintain, create modifications and new options for the website's WordPress theme.
  
  Worked with current Editor in Chief to redesign website.
  
  Optimized website for search engines and provided tools for authors and editors to continually maximize that optimization.
  
  Optimized website for social media and built a custom Open Graph solution to combine SEO and SMO efforts both automatic and by website staff.
  
  Designed website.
- **Community Manager at The Office of Student Media, George Mason University** (2010 – 2011)
  Manage marketing and ad sales staff to increase student participation and revenue. Work with students, staff and faculty specializing in these fields to create best practices and expand efforts. Help converge content to increase visibility.
  
  Oversee social media, including 18 Twitter accounts and eight Facebook accounts, to manage and build upon the online community that interacts with the university's brand and the office's content. This includes managing the onMason blogging and site-building platform to provide much-needed tools to the Mason community, build a greater audience for office content and increase traffic to student media properties.
  
  Manage a student advertising staff who, for the 2011 Broadside Orientation Guide, achieved the highest revenue total to date.
  
  Work with student staff on initiatives to build new sources of revenue, such as Connect2Mason's The Hunt or Twitter advertising. Additionally, build search engine and social media optimization into online properties to increase marketability.
  
  Represent Student Media at on-campus events including orientation, housing, admissions, fairs and conferences.
  
  Responsible for the highest number of freshmen signed up to participate to date.
  
  Represent Student Media in local off-campus events and organizations that intersect our interests, in order to create opportunities for collaboration, including Social Media Club DC, Online News Association, DC Twestival and the DC Media Makers.
  
  Represent Student Media at national and regional conferences and BarCamps, including College Media Advisors NYC convention, Social Learning Summit, WordCampNYC, BarCamp News Innovation Philly and THATCamp.
  
  Collaborate with other university departments on projects, like the online onCUE directory, that enhance the university's communication and brand.
- **Lead Writer at Angels Fall First Universe** (2004 – 2011)
  Managed all writing- and text-focused projects within the AFFU, a group of independent game developers working on a multi-platform, multi-game project.
  
  Managed content for associated projects from an international team located all over the world, ranging in age from 15 to
  \32.
  
  Oversaw and maintained all textual content for the project.
  
  Managed a community of interested consumers and participants, insuring all contributions met the standards for the project.
  
  Collaborated with the Art Lead, Project Leads and Lead Developer.
- **New Media Manager - UPIU at United Press International** (2010 – 2010)
  Optimized the UPIU brand's social media presence.
  
  Grew UPIU visibility in the college media space.
  
  Increased traffic significantly, resulting in the launch of advertising products on the main website.
  
  Proposed, launched and managed a blog as part of an effort to increase brand transparency, promote content and join the discourse in the college media space.
- **Technology Manager at The Office of Student Media, George Mason University** (2008 – 2010)
  Proposed and launched the onMason platform to build cutting-edge content management tools for the Mason community and for Student Media outlets.
  
  Researched, developed and deployed technology solutions for journalism tasks.
  
  Educated users on best practices for new and existing tools.
  
  Aided in the convergence of content.
  
  Developed, deployed and maintained MasonVotes.gmu.edu, a social media-based website built to inform students and residents of Northern Virginia about politics. The project received national media coverage and student contributions were syndicated internationally.
  
  Deployed a full redesign of Drupal-based convergence website Connect2Mason.
- **President at GMU Israel Club** (2009 – 2010)
  I led George Mason University's Israel Club. In my role as president I was responsible for organizing events, collaborating with other organizations and writing budget and grant requests.
- **Community Outreach Director at George Mason Hillel: The Jewish Student Association** (2008 – 2010)
  The Community Outreach Director is responsible for reaching out to post-graduate members of the community, coordinating with associated and affiliated organizations, working with other student organizations, and helping student leaders find contacts.
- **Chesapeake-area Lead Resident Technician at George Mason University** (2008 – 2009)
  Maintained and repaired student computer systems on-site.
  
  Worked with student clients.
  
  Managed a number of other resident technicians in my area.
  
  Worked with the MAGIC ticket system.
  
  Monitored an advanced phone-system and instant message for help requests.
- **Student President at George Mason Hillel: The Jewish Student Association** (2007 – 2008)
  Created an advertising plan to promote the organization through outreach programs and a branding campaign.
  
  Applied for and received grants for both the George Mason University Hillel and Israel Club from interest organizations.
  
  Coordinated with other student leaders and organizations while expanding involvement to post-graduate leaders.
  
  Managed and expanded the organization's overall budget by expanding the scope of the organization and increasing advocacy activities.
  
  Worked with representatives of external organizations to increase Hillel's budget, resources and activities, including the Israel on Campus Coalition of Greater Washington, national-level Hillel, Religious Action Center, Taglit-Birthright and other campus Hillels.
  
  Created a detailed action plan to enhance the entire organization and bring it in line with the recommendations made by Hillel's national accreditation committee. Increased attendance significantly.
  
  Filled long empty leadership positions and trained new student leaders.
  
  I led the creation of an advertising plan, branding campaign, and a number of outreach programs.
  
  I also worked with representatives from other organizations, including the Israel on Campus Coalition of Greater Washington, national-level Hillel, the Religious Action Center, Taglit-Birthright, other campus Hillels and numerous Mason organizations.
  
  I dramatically expanded the overall scope of the organization and expanded GMU Hillel's overall advocacy activities.
  
  I created a detailed action plan for the entire organization. I was also responsible for helping to bring the George Mason Hillel in line with recommendations made by a national accreditation committee.
- **Copy Chief at VoxPop** (2006 – 2008)
  Coordinated a team of four copy editors.
  
  Contacted and managed copy editors and writers to insure quality and accuracy.
  
  Formulated a style guide to determine the overall style for writers of the magazine.
- **Copy Chief at Broadside** (2007 – 2007)
  Hired and coordinated a team of four copy editors.
  
  Worked with section editors and writers.
  
  Trained copy editors.
  
  Helped to form a production schedule.
  
  Formulated overall style rules for the publication.
- **Copy Editor at Broadside** (2007 – 2007)
  Worked with a team of copy editors to read, fact check and ensure the quality of the student newspaper.
- **Software Development Manager at The Washington Post** (2025 – present)
  Managing the Advertising Engineering Team for The Washington Post.

## Education

- **George Mason University** — Bachelor of Science - BS (2005 – 2011)

## Skills

- Social Networking
- WordPress
- Content Strategy
- Social Media
- Blogging
- SEO
- Editing
- Writing
- Research
- Journalism
- Web Development
- New Media
- Creative Writing
- Public Relations
- Marketing
- Copy Editing
- Copywriting
- AP Style
- News Writing
- Higher Education
- Social Media Optimization
- Computer Repair
- Content Creation
- Responsive Web Design
- Feature Writing
- Consultancy
- Wordpress
- HTML
- Photoshop
- PHP
- Storytelling
- Public Speaking
- Management
- Community Management
- Presenter
- Personal Branding
- Interactive Media
- Narrative
- Multimedia Journalism
- Advanced CSS
- PSD to HTML/CSS
- Narrative Design
- Online Privacy
- Ad Tech
- Privacy
- IT Management
- Online Marketing
- Web Design
- Network Security
- WordPress development

## Projects

- **PressForward** — http://github.com/PressForward/pressforward
  PressForward is a WordPress plugin built to process feeds as a feed reader, allow groups to share and discuss the items that come in and then post about them as an integrated editorial process.
- **Proceedings of THATCamp** — http://thatcamp.org/2014/03/31/announcing-the-proceedings-of-thatcamp/
  Worked with team to develop improvements to the project's WordPress theme, BuddyPress profiles and to extend BuddyPress's activities functionality towards a more useful favorites system.
- **Response Stack** — https://github.com/CFOPublishing/response-stack
  A WordPress plugin to build stories out of comments and help both the original story and the discussion around it live on.
- **HTML5 Preroll for YouTube WordPress embeds** — https://github.com/CFOPublishing/preroller
  Wrote a WordPress plugin and that allows the use of XML VAST Video Ad Tags with embedded YouTube videos using javascript, HTML5 video and the videojs library.
- **Nightmare Mode** — https://github.com/AramZS/thematicnightmare
  A website for critical discussion of gaming. I designed and continue to improve their WordPress theme.
- **WordPress Archival Shortcode** — http://aramzs.me/tasp
  I'm working on perfecting a WordPress plugin that allows the user to archive Twitter through WordPress's shortcode interface.
- **The Hunt 2** — http://thehunt.connect2mason.com
  Designed, wrote and planned an alternate reality game for students at George Mason University through the Office of Student Media. The game was designed to be played around the George Mason University campus and teach students about the history and community of the campus and the Student Media brand.
- **Launched Video Channel** — http://www.youtube.com/user/cfopub
  I configured and optimized a YouTube channel for CFO Publishing. I then worked with our team of journalists to create video content to fill the channel. My work included advising, filming and editing video.
- **The JOBS Act Explainer** — http://ww2.cfo.com/growth-companies/2013/10/the-jobs-act-crowdfunding-and-emerging-businesses/
  Built custom CSS, JavaScript and PHP to help create an interactive journalistic report on The JOBS Act, providing a comprehensive listing of topics, questions, answers and sources on the topic.
- **Broadside-Hybrid Responsive WordPress Theme** — http://broadsideonline.com
  Developed a responsive WordPress theme for the Student Newspaper.
- **CFO.com redesign and re-launch** — https://web.archive.org/web/20190208213203/http://www.cfo.com/
  Led the team and project managed a website redesign for CFO.com, leading digital property of CFO Publishing, LLC.
- **Mason Votes Responsive Theme - BoxedIn** — http://masonvotes.gmu.edu
  Created a new responsive WordPress theme for Mason Votes website.
- **Computer Parts Warehouse Website Relaunch**
  Worked as external resource to help a team launch Computer Parts Warehouse's new WordPress-based website on the Amazon Web Services cloud.
- **Tablet Edition**
  An iPad edition of CFO Magazine. I specifically worked on HTML/Javascript elements within the project.
- **Editorial reboot into WordPress** — http://cfo.com
  Worked with a team to move CFO's editorial team into a WordPress platform.
- **Custom Link Shortener**
  Modified, customized and launched a custom cloud-based URL shortening tool using the YOURLS open source project.
- **Responsive Website Relaunch for SES-GS** — http://ses-gs.com
  Project managed and worked to build out a responsive version of SES-GS's website for WordPress.
- **Salon.com Responsive Design Restructure** — http://www.salon.com
  Built out SASS, JS, and PHP to restructure www.salon.com into a fully responsive design.

## Publications

- A quick test post on Leaflet — notes.aramzs.xyz (https://notes.aramzs.xyz/3mbpjrfwqm22y)
- The Internet is a Series of Webs — aramzs.xyz (https://aramzs.xyz/essays/the-internet-is-a-series-of-webs/)
- On the Characteristics of an Effective Consent Signal (https://aramzs.github.io/written-for-the-washington-post/2022/05/05/comments-to-california-privacy-protection-agency.html)
- Feedback Loop: Many choices, or none, make a game. — Nightmare Mode (http://aramzs.me/97)
- Search Engine Optimization 201 (http://aramzs.me/seo201)
- How Facebook's Timeline will change everything. — HackText (http://aramzs.me/98)
- A WordPress Theme for Taking Notes on Your Kindle — Chronicle of Higher Education online (http://aramzs.me/4k)
- Innovative Models: Student Media at George Mason University — CoPress (http://aramzs.me/4o)
- How the Israeli Consulate Brought the State to the People — HackText (http://aramzs.me/99)

## Honors and awards

- Top Honors Award for Most Effective Technology Tool - Mason Votes
- Folio 100: 15 Under 30 in the magazine media industry
- Notable Technologies in Audience Tracking

## Other profiles

- steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197965879654
- dns: https://fightwithtools.dev
- dns: https://aramzs.nexus
- linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aramzuckerscharff
- hackernews: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Chronotope
- reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/AramZS
- tangled: https://tangled.org/chronotope.aramzs.xyz
- dns: https://aramzs.xyz
- github: https://github.com/AramZS
- bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/chronotope.aramzs.xyz