Get to know me

About Matt Ward

I’ve been building and leading in technology for over two decades — starting as a software developer at 17, working full-time while finishing my degree at Virginia Tech. From the beginning, I’ve combined technical depth with leadership drive, naturally rising into roles where I could take ownership and deliver results.

Outside of tech, I served as a volunteer firefighter and was among the first responders to the Virginia Tech massacre — an experience that shaped my approach to crisis, resilience, and leadership under pressure.

My career has spanned Defense, SaaS, MarTech, Life Sciences, Construction, FinTech, Gaming, and Retail. I’ve led engineering organizations of 70+ across 14 teams, rebuilt legacy monoliths into resilient multi-tenant SaaS platforms (raising uptime from 95% to 99.99%), and turned around products a year behind schedule into on-time wins within weeks.

At MasterControl, I scaled engineering from struggling delivery to a $50M+ ARR pipeline by re-architecting infrastructure, building leadership benches, and instituting modern practices (RFC culture, paved-road platforms, DORA metrics). At Nordstrom, I stabilized payment systems after a $45M outage, delivering 100% peak uptime while saving $4.2M annually. At Zynga, I helped scale a game from zero to 10M DAU in a single week.

At Procore, I leveled-up a struggling engineering organization and successfully integrated an acquired company; balancing a very delicate need for feature delivery with overwhelming tech-debt leading towards the companies IPO.

At Nordstrom, I brought innovation transforming a buy-first mentality to building out our first cloud-based eCommerce services, leading towards innovations in computer vision. Further I was later trusted with overhauling the company's payment infrastructure, solving for a $45 Million outage.

Today, as the founder of Foundry Fractional, I step in as a Fractional CTO to help companies at inflection points: post-Series A startups that need to scale responsibly, or PE/VC portfolio companies where the technology function needs immediate transformation, as well as being a "Chief AI Officer" identifying and implementing agentive AI solutions to streamline operations. My role is to own the technical and organizational challenges so leadership teams can focus on growth.

Highlights & Credentials

• 20+ Years in Technology — From developer to VP of Engineering.

• Cross-Industry Leadership — SaaS, MarTech, FinTech, Life Sciences, Retail, Gaming.

• Proven Scale — Led 80+ engineers, delivered $50M ARR pipeline impact

• Crisis-Tested Leadership — Volunteer firefighter, Virginia Tech first responder, site reliability ops excellence

• Operational Excellence — Transformed engineering cultures with DORA metrics, RFC culture, paved-road platforms.

Human Side

When I’m not scaling engineering teams, I’m a drummer in a metal band, a wedding DJ, and a MilSim airsoft player with the callsign Woden. I believe great leaders bring both passion and discipline to everything they do.