Peter McPhail

Summary

Senior Engineer and UX Architect with 5+ years of experience designing and building data-dense, technical software platforms for industrial controls, Industry 4.0, and semiconductor environments. Expert at transforming complex engineering workflows into intuitive user experiences, leading cross-functional teams, and implementing scalable design systems from concept to frontend execution.

Skills

Technical:

XAML, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, AI-Assisted Frontend Development, Behavioral Analytics (Microsoft Clarity).

Design & UX/UI:

User Research, Usability Heuristics, Rapid Prototyping, Information Architecture, Component-Driven Design Systems, WCAG / Accessibility Compliance.

Tools & Frameworks:

Figma, Adobe XD, Atlassian Tools (Jira / Confluence), Git, TFS.

Experience

1. Senior Software Product Development Engineer

   2021–Present

   Watlow · Winona, MN

   • Designed the frontend for the ThermalWatch predictive analytics dashboard, teaming up with data engineers and using AI tools to quickly turn design assets into a live customer-facing platform.
   • Shifted engineering leadership’s focus toward digital accessibility by teaching teams about usability heuristics and WCAG compliance, protecting the company against rising compliance risks.
   • Designed a scalable, medium-voltage HMI product that simplifies how complex process data is visualized while keeping critical system alerts highly visible for operators.
   • Developed an end-to-end HMI system for semiconductor subfabs—built for environments like Intel, Samsung, and Global Foundries—to standardize and simplify how technicians track real-time processes.
   • Built a custom application for Raven SR to display complex reactor data, which successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the technology to high-profile investors and technicians.
   • Integrated Microsoft Clarity into core products to track actual customer behavior, bringing real-world usage data into future product decisions.
   • Collaborated with other designers to build a unified, custom design system for Watlow, making UI components fully reusable across different product lines.

2. Engineer II — Firmware Verification Lead

   2019–2021

   Watlow · Winona, MN

   • Led a 5-engineer team tasked with verifying and validating embedded firmware across multiple product lines to ensure strict compliance with performance and reliability specifications.
   • Cut annual department licensing costs by over 50% by successfully transitioning legacy test environments from proprietary software to open-source platforms.
   • Architected, deployed, and managed an automated test environment, writing feature-driven test code and streamlining how test results were reported to stakeholders.
   • Tracked and delivered weekly test metrics to cross-functional leadership, keeping potential firmware defects visible early in the development cycle.

3. Engineer I — Firmware Verification

   2016–2019

   Watlow · Winona, MN

   • Collaborated directly with firmware developers to design and execute embedded test suites, validating code performance against safety and regulatory requirements.
   • Built and maintained a shared library of reusable test scripts, reducing manual regression testing time for legacy product updates.
   • Documented detailed bug reports and tracked firmware anomalies through resolution, working across teams to isolate root causes.

Education

• UX Design Certificate

  University of Minnesota · Minneapolis, MN

  Intensive 24-week program focused on user research methodologies, information architecture, visual design systems, and rapid prototyping tools.

• BS Computer Science, HCI

  Winona State University · Winona, MN

  Computer Science Scholarship Recipient.