Matt Summers

MATT SUMMERS Beccles, Suffolk NR34 7NX ·- ·-https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-summers-b4b5424 Technical leader with 15+ years' experience building collaborative, high-performing, multicultural engineering teams, and embedding Agile and CI/CD practices. Passionate about mentoring developers, fostering a culture of trust, continuous improvement, and accountability. Proven success in leading distributed full stack teams, and adept at scaling software delivery and working with stakeholders to align technology with business goals. Exploring AI and emerging technologies to enhance developer productivity and innovation in remote-first teams. Key Strengths & Business Skills       Building high-performing, agile engineering teams Mentoring and developing engineers Leading distributed and cross-functional teams Driving engineering culture and morale Leading and scaling remote asynchronous teams Defining and tracking engineering metrics       Aligning tech with business strategy Implementing CI/CD and Agile processes Defining technical strategy and roadmaps Championing coding standards and best practices Modernising legacy systems and architecture Streamlining software delivery processes Professional Experience SOFTWARE ENGINEERING MANAGER, DERIVCO, IPSWICH MAY 2024 - MAR 2025 Implemented team agile processes and CI/CD principles to streamline workflows and ensure timely project delivery. Strengthened collaboration across international teams to build resilient .NET microservices serving millions of users globally. Fostered a cohesive team culture, prioritized effective communication, mentored developers to build their leadership capacity, and established processes to optimize project management and align with business objectives.       Introduced agile and CI/CD processes to increase delivery frequency and team velocity. Delivered scalable .NET microservice APIs in Azure in collaboration with global teams. Mentored 7 developers through regular 1:1s, coaching, and growth plans. Led retrospectives and sprint planning to boost engagement and visibility across the team. Championed new tools to improve developer experience and accelerate delivery. Partnered with product and business stakeholders to review business goals and roadmap features. HEAD OF TECHNICAL SERVICES, ARC LEGAL ASSISTANCE, COLCHESTER DEC 2016 - MAY 2024 Led multiple teams and managers across disciplines, including software development, BI, infrastructure, infosec, and service desk. Delivered strategic projects in collaboration with stakeholders, designed full-stack application architecture, and modernized systems. Led cross-department workshops, enhanced IT strategy at a board level, and implemented a technical roadmap. Fostered collaboration, mentored software developers, and streamlined agile processes to align IT with business goals and improve user experience.       Modernised a fragmented estate by consolidating 6 legacy applications into 4 modern .NET systems. Embedded observability, security, and incident review processes to raise reliability standards. Furthered Agile transformation, establishing structured workflows and increasing visibility and accountability. Further evolved the SDLC, automated releases and CI/CD processes, bringing more release cycle improvements. Built a culture of growth, accountability, and continuous improvement and training, and improved standards. Partnered with business stakeholders to gather business requirements and prioritise work. LEAD DEVELOPER, ARC LEGAL ASSISTANCE, COLCHESTER OCT 2013 - NOV 2016 Led the technical overhaul of all development processes, introducing Agile, CI/CD, TDD, and automated deployments to enable daily releases and increase delivery responsiveness. Designed modern application architecture and overhauled source control and SDLC practices to support iterative development and cross-team transparency. Took initiative in mentoring developers and fostering collaboration, laying the groundwork for a more scalable and maintainable engineering culture.     Implemented trunk-based CI/CD pipelines, increasing release frequency from monthly to daily. Designed and built a modern Web API/MVC/WPF/SQL stack to replace legacy systems. Embedded agile and coding standards in the team, increasing collaboration and code quality. Instilled a test-first team culture with TDD practices, raising quality and reliability. SENIOR DEVELOPER, RIO IT, COLCHESTER JUL 2013 - OCT 2013 Built new modules for a bespoke MVC web application for a roofing company, including a new feature with Google Maps integration, allowing the user to map out roofing areas on buildings to be included in quotes. The system automatically calculated the area of each roof, which tied in with the quote details. LEAD DEVELOPER, KEYSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT, COLCHESTER JUN 2009 - JUL 2013 Led the development team through a major technical transformation, redesigning client/server architecture and building tablet software to support remote workflows. Migrated core systems from Windows Forms to Silverlight and introduced Agile delivery, automated QA, and streamlined release preparation, increasing release frequency from biannual to monthly. Acted as both technical architect and team lead, fostering collaboration, improving delivery cadence by 500%, and working closely with clients to align solutions with business needs.    Conducted Agile transformation, reducing release cycles from six months to one with iterative delivery. Designed full-stack architecture and migrated core systems from Windows Forms to Silverlight. Acted as team lead and technical architect, collaborating with and presenting new features to customers. WEB DEVELOPER, JOBSERVE, TIPTREE NOV 2007 - JUN 2009 Worked on dynamic web applications, including a CV search tool using asynchronous web services and XML transformations to improve user experience.   Built dynamic features for the JobServe website using ASP.NET and JavaScript Developed a CV search tool using async web services and XLT templates PRODUCT ENGINEER, KEYSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT, COLCHESTER APR 2006 - NOV 2007 First commercial development role, contributing to Windows Forms and PDA software used in the housing sector, while supporting clients and improving system reliability.   Designed and built features for desktop and mobile surveyor software Supported live systems by diagnosing and fixing client-reported issues Earlier Roles WEB DEVELOPER, PAGE NINE, COLCHESTER IT TEMP WORK, ALEX STUART & SONS, COLCHESTER WEB DEVELOPER, IN-HOUSE GROUP, LAWFORD OCT 2003 - APR 2006 MAY 2003 - OCT 2003 FEB 2000 - MAY 2003 Recommendations These have been slightly edited for grammar and brevity, but the originals can be found on my LinkedIn profile. “I can confidently say that Matt is one of the best managers I ever had the pleasure to work with. He was always open to listening to the developer’s ideas and would give us the liberty of writing up new features that we thought would make the user’s lives easier. He always had a keen eye for the end-product and was focused on delivering the best value for the user, and this has been highlighted by other seniors after he left. His impact is still felt widely within the products he spearheaded and in the people who worked with him. Beyond his technical skills and functional-driven approach, he’s an all-around great person.” – Senior Software Engineer “Matt consistently demonstrated what it means to be a strong and supportive leader. He’s incredibly knowledgeable across a broad range of IT disciplines and always made time to share that expertise, whether guiding technical decisions, mentoring team members, or just being available with thoughtful, practical advice. Matt’s leadership style is grounded in integrity, clarity, and a genuine care for people. He creates an environment of trust, fosters collaboration, and brings a great sense of humour to the team, which made working with him both productive and enjoyable. His ability to understand complex technical challenges and align them with business goals is exceptional, and he played a key role in driving improvements in our processes and systems. Anyone would be lucky to have Matt on their team; as a leader, mentor, and all-round great individual.” – Senior BI Developer “I’ve greatly enjoyed working with Matt at Arc Legal, and I can confidently say that his leadership has made a lasting impact on the application architecture, development team’s performance and culture. One of his standout achievements was the introduction of a CI/CD pipeline that transformed our deployment process. This allowed the development team to deliver daily updates with greater speed, reliability, and confidence. It was a clear demonstration of his technical expertise, strategic thinking, and ability to lead complex initiatives from concept to execution. Beyond technical leadership, Matt brings a genuine passion for technology that inspires everyone around him. What’s more, he has a keen eye for UI design, consistently advocating for clean, intuitive, and user-friendly interfaces. This attention to detail ensures that our applications not only function well but also deliver a polished and uniform user experience.” – Software Development Manager “I have known and worked with Matt for nearly two decades. He is a hard-working, reliable and trustworthy individual, whom I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to any potential employer.” – CEO “It’s genuinely hard to express how much of a positive impact Matt had on the team. He brought warmth, patience, and integrity to everything he did - whether it was running genuinely safe and open retrospectives, supporting colleagues with kindness (even when we didn’t make it easy!), or quietly and consistently keeping things moving. He’s one of those rare people who you immediately trust - not just because he’s capable and professional, but because he really listens and genuinely cares. He created space for people to speak up, grow, and do their best work. Always supportive, always willing to learn, and always focused on making the team better. Any company would be lucky to have Matt!” – Senior Full Stack Developer “I was impressed by Matt’s approachable and supportive leadership style. He has a natural ability to connect with people, creating a collaborative and respectful team environment where everyone feels heard and valued. Matt is incredibly focused and organized, always keeping the team aligned with project goals while remaining adaptable when priorities shift. He strikes a great balance between being results-driven and people-oriented—a quality that makes him an outstanding software manager. His clear communication, problem-solving skills, and genuine interest in helping others grow made a real difference in my professional development. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have worked with him and would highly recommend him to any team looking for a strong, thoughtful, and motivating leader.” – Full Stack Developer