Justin Larsen

Twenty years of building things that work at scale — platforms, databases, infrastructure, teams. My interests have always varied but I'm a passionate system builder. Started in networking administration, went into software QA and then onwards to data! If I wasn’t doing this, I’d probably be trying to help humans understand the secrets of space.

Currently leading technology for Traeger Grills, doing my best to help people use technology in ways that actually make their work life easier.

My first tech job: building custom RJ-45 data poles in a data center at the rise of the dotcom boom. Worked as an escalation tech for Microsoft, Compaq, and Handspring while studying computer science. Moved from support to debugging outbound dialers, T1 trunks, and aging servers with dubious support licenses. The start of my career was full of unglamorous work that taught me how things actually run.

The lesson that stuck: Stay connected to the front line. The people closest to the work understand it best.

Picked up by the data team at Ancestry for writing queries that don’t suck against high volume transactional data. Seven years at Ancestry.com working with a SQL Server monolith that had 500 billion rows, ending my tenure as the query optimization lead. We learned how to optimize for big data before the term entered the lexicon and implemented SOX as it was being rolled out post Enron.

Then Mozy at VMware, building data systems and reporting infrastructure. We built things that endured — endured so well that a decade later, we were asked to come back and elegantly spin them down with the product line. Probably the best compliment a company can pay you for good design.

Five years at Align B.I., taking everything I’d learned about data and putting it to work for bigger companies at the leading edge of big data and AI. Running client engagements from the start — the highlights were building an ML classifier for standardizing veterinary medication names and planning zero-downtime database migrations for point of sale systems. The consulting years were where I learned how to walk into a room, figure out what actually needs to happen, and help people get there.

That led to VP of Engineering at Strala, building high-volume eventing systems on serverless and DynamoDB. My first real step from engineering into executive leadership.

Head of Technology at Traeger Grills. We consolidated 50 AWS accounts into one organization, migrated from 400+ microservices to five domain bounded monoliths, rebuilt our mobile app, cut our cloud spend in half, and navigated a hell of a lot of organizational change. I mostly try to stay out of the way and make sure people have what they need.

Right now I’m focused on helping the company adopt AI thoughtfully — finding the spots where it genuinely helps and not forcing it where it doesn’t.

Infrastructure that disappears when it works. Data that delivers insights. Teams that don’t need me in the room. Systems that make the next person’s job easier, not harder.

Mostly the boring stuff that lets the interesting stuff happen.

I tend to see everything as a system — inputs, outputs, feedback loops. That applies to technology, organizations, and honestly to myself. It’s a useful lens, and I have to remind myself that it's not the only one.

A pragmatic egalitarian that also likes the outdoors, I'm an exile in the political wilderness. I think a lot about climate, energy, and where technology fits into both. Nuclear deserves more serious consideration than it gets. AI is going to change a lot of things in ways we’re not ready for. Social media makes us feel further apart than we are. Humans are going to space the easy way or the hard way.

I believe in strong opinions loosely held. I always have a position, curiosity about opposing points of view, and a heavy desire to build bridges.