An iron founder (also iron-founder or ironfounder) in its more general sense is a worker in molten ferrous metal, generally working within an iron foundry. However, the term iron founder is usually reserved for the owner or manager of an iron foundry, a person also known in Victorian England as a master. Workers in a foundry are generically described as foundrymen; however, the various craftsmen working in foundries, such as moulders and pattern makers, are often referred to by their specific trades. 
Historically the appellation "founder" was given to the supervisor of a blast furnace, and persons who made castings in iron or other heavy metal. The term is also often applied to the company or works in which an iron foundry operates.