Working at the American Chemical Society has been a really rewarding, multidisciplinary experience. I’ve had the chance to contribute to the design and development of the main website, a range of microsites, full email and marketing campaigns, and internal tools like the ACS Design System and ACS Nucleus.
My main focus in this role has been building modular Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) components that can be reused across different sites. I’ve also worked on full page builds using modern front-end tools, with an emphasis on consistency, scalability, and creating a smooth user experience.
Technical Approach / Challenges
When I joined the American Chemical Society from Navy Federal Credit Union, I was coming from a more traditional front-end stack of plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In my final weeks at NFCU, I began familiarizing myself with Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), knowing I’d be working with it in my next role, but I didn’t yet have much hands-on experience.
Once at ACS, I picked it up quickly and was building components and pages within a few weeks. I worked closely with three UI/UX designers and two other AEM developers to translate Figma mockups into reusable components, maintain the existing site, and build out more complex responsive pages. I also became the primary developer for Eloqua forms, which are used across a wide range of ACS sites and initiatives for data collection and reporting.
Beyond AEM, I led the development of the ACS Network, built on Khoros, a Java-based community platform that was completely new to me. I was the sole developer on the project, responsible for everything from creating mockups and wireframes to working directly with stakeholders and guiding the technical direction. This required solving a variety of new technical challenges under a tight timeline while continuing to support ongoing AEM initiatives.
I also served as the lead developer for the ACS Media Kit site, a custom WordPress build using the Bricks framework. I approached it similarly to ACS.org by creating modular, reusable components that made it easy to build and manage content across the site. In addition to development, I handled DevOps tasks through WP Engine, including maintaining plugins, keeping PHP versions up to date, and ensuring the site remained secure and stable.
Roles and Responsibilities:
- Lead developer for key areas of the primary ACS.org site, including all ACS Meetings pages
- Led development of the ACS Network, a Khoros-based community platform
- Led development of the ACS Media Kit site, a custom WordPress build using the Bricks framework
- Primary developer for ACS Eloqua forms used for data collection and reporting across multiple initiatives
- Lead developer and content administrator for the ACS Meetings platform (Digitell), supporting events with over 20,000 participants
Tech Stack / Project Approach
- Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), Khoros, Digitell, Eloqua, and WordPress (Bricks framework)
- Front-end: HTML, CSS, JavaScript (vanilla), jQuery, with some React
- Version control and collaboration: GitHub for pull requests and code reviews
- Project management: Jira for task tracking and sprint planning
- Workflow: Agile environment with daily standups and two-week sprints
Key Results / Takeaways
- Modernized the existing ACS.org site, resulting in a 14% increase in user retention and engagement
- Led the launch of ACSMediaKit.org, driving a 33% increase in package sales and an 11% year-over-year increase in overall revenue