Charles Berret

[ 03 / about ]

About

Writer, researcher, and content engineer. I build editorial systems, data journalism, and the AI tooling that powers them — with a PhD from Columbia, a book forthcoming from MIT Press, and fifteen-plus years translating complex technical work for developer, enterprise, and general audiences.

Experience

[ timeline ]
2025 – present

Enigma

Senior Content Manager

Built the content and communications function from zero for a business-identity (KYB) data company — data journalism, brand and editorial systems, launch comms, and the AI tooling that runs it. Promoted from Content Lead.

2022 – 24

Linköping University

Postdoctoral Fellow, Critical Data Visualization

A research and teaching post bridging Computer Science and Gender Studies; developed and taught a graduate course on gender and diversity in engineering.

2018 – 22

University of British Columbia

Postdoc, Computer Science · Visiting Assistant Professor, Journalism

Supervised research on data journalism, visualization, and data cleaning; taught 10 courses on visualization, ethics, and investigative reporting.

2019 – 22

Global Reporting Center

Digital Security Lead

Trained journalists in operational security and source protection; operated a SecureDrop system.

2018 – 21

Institute for Investigative Journalism

Data Editor

Led data gathering for a team of investigative reporters; the team won the 2020 Data Journalism Award.

2017 – 18

Google

Writer, Google Fonts & Google Design

Feature writing on open-source typography; edited technical documentation for Android developers.

2016 – 17

Brown Institute for Media Innovation

Research Fellow

Archival research at eight sites for the book; mentored journalists and artists on digital storytelling.

2015 – 16

Tow Center for Digital Journalism

Research Fellow

Authored the first published study of the SecureDrop whistleblowing platform.

Education

[ degrees ]
2018
PhD, Communication — Columbia University
2010
MS, Journalism — Northwestern University
2007
BA, Philosophy (High Distinction) — University of Michigan

Skills

[ capabilities ]

Content & Strategy

Technical documentation, product and launch communications, content-system design, SEO strategy, brand-voice development, executive ghostwriting, competitive intelligence, data journalism.

Technical

Python, SQL, Databricks, DuckDB, Polars, Altair, Marimo, GraphQL, Git/GitLab, data pipelines, web scraping, shell scripting.

AI / Agent tooling

Claude Skills & plugins, MCP server development, LLM evaluation, agent orchestration (multi-session loops), prompt and content-quality systems.

Research & Security

Qualitative and quantitative methods, interviews, content analysis, archival research; digital-security training, SecureDrop administration, source protection.

Get in touch

[ contact ]
charles@charlesberret.net
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