10+ Years Experience. Fractional CTO, Avid Builder, & Lifelong Learner.
Hey there - I'm Cory – a software engineering leader with over a decade's worth of professional experience. From rolling up my sleeves and coding cool stuff at startups to longer-term engineering strategy / people management in the government, my journey has been quite the ride.
Beyond my day jobs, I've always delved into side projects as a way to keep up my skills and for fun. With over 50 ventures, from quirky web apps to online stores, these experiments have become a lab for tinkering, learning, and sharing the fun of creation.
When I'm not at the computer, I'm often enjoying the outdoors on local trails or exploring new parts of town.
Cory has made more of an impact on my career progression and understanding of development than any other person thus far. His patience and ability break down and explain the logic behind *why* the code was working was apart of the foundation from which I excelled.
ZC
Zöe ClemensStudent, Thinkful (fka Bloc.io)
I've had the privilege of working with many great engineers, but Cory has a blend of passion, entrepreneurialism, work ethic, ability to learn, and technical aptitude that is unique.
Joined the Department of Veterans Affairs thru the United States Digital Services (USDS) in June 2020 to modernize Identity, Credential, & Access Management. Moved into Engineering Management of ~10 other federal engineers. Most recently Department-wide strategy for delivery highly-differentiated software to better outcomes for all users.
Built in ~90 minutes using Astro, Tailwind, and GitHub Actions - this is a simple app that tracks carbon emissions of popular federal, state, & local government websites over time.
Built with Astro static site generator - first foray into SSG and multi-language site. Built for fun to build a broader community of Green Bay Packers fans in Brazil.
Wrote highly performant OAuth 2.0 implementation from the IETF Specification for millions of TV subscribers signing into their accounts on a laptop or on a television Over The Top (OTT) player.
As a Platform Engineer, my team and I delivered an internal portal that automated the setup and reduced coupon creation errors - saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. This was integrated with Salesforce/VisualForce as a Single Page Application.
Started as an automation Engineer and moved into a Full Stack Software Engineering role. Delivered invaluable test suites to deliver bug-free software to thousands of customers. Moved into feature/product development. Organized hackathons and social events for the engineering team.
The Department of Veterans Affairs | via United States Digital Service
Digital Services Expert
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and outpatient clinics located throughout the country.
Within the Department, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) was established to bring in professionals to help drive widespread technological change across the organization.
• Detailed at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs | Former Engineering Community of Practice Lead (October 2021 to March 2023) in the Office of the Chief Technology Office
• Advised engineering strategy. Including, but not limited to: Software Factory (Digital Transformation Center), Engineering Excellence, Zero Trust, and IT intake processes
• Focused on establishing and growing the best in class high-impact civic technology organization
• Established an Identity Working Group aimed at providing veterans, caregivers, and others access to VA web properties with one public and one private credential
Detailed at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs | Former Engineering Community of Practice Lead (October 2021 to March 2023) in the Office of the Chief Technology Office
Advised engineering strategy. Including, but not limited to: Software Factory (Digital Transformation Center), Engineering Excellence, Zero Trust, and IT intake processes
Established an Identity Working Group aimed at providing veterans, caregivers, and others access to VA web properties with one public and one private credential
May 2019 — May 2020
Slalom
Technology Consultant
Slalom is a next-generation professional services company creating value at the intersection of business, technology, and humanity.
Architected, programmed, and deployed an OAuth 2.0 solution based on the IETF specifications for a customer with > 2 million monthly active subscribers
Expanded the aforementioned solution to allow users to connect to a popular smart home solution
Prototyped a web component / design library and created a proof of concept micro-frontend application w/ cohesive state management between applications
Jan 2018 — Sep 2019
Thinkful (fka Bloc.io)
Educator & Squad Lead
We’re an online education platform with career support to get our students new jobs and life long careers. Founded in 2012, we’re a 100% remote company with over 600 employees dedicated to our students’ learning journey.
Held over 1,000 meetings with students (1x per week per student) from various programming backgrounds to help them get unstuck, answer career-related questions, and anything else they were curious about
Held role of Squad Lead where I worked with ~20 other educators to ensure every student is receiving the same support and quality across the organization for ~6 months
Dec 2017 — Feb 2019
Ibotta
Platform Engineer
At Ibotta, we try to improve the lives of millions of consumers every day. We do this by helping them earn cash rewards on thousands of everyday items.
Led and architected out an internal tool built with React, Redux, and other tools that live in a Visualforce page on our organization's SalesForce instance
This application was hooked up to a Node API broker microservice to aggregate API requests & responses before handing information back to the React Application
Cross-trained and onboarded other engineers into the project
Mar 2014 — Dec 2017
JazzHR (fka The Resumator)
Software Engineer
JazzHR is a powerful, user-friendly, applicant tracking system that is purpose-built to help businesses exceed their recruiting goals.
Transitioned to Full-stack developer from Automation Engineer
Worked on cross-functional teams to deliver incremental product updates
Organized multiple hackathons & social events for the Technology team
Compare the best fractional CTO companies for startups in 2026 by vetting, speed, pricing, and model, and find the right fractional CTO services for your stage.
Learn what a forward deployed engineer does, how the role differs from traditional software engineering, and why hire one to support enterprise customers.
