Kevin Liedtke
About Me
For 20+ years I’ve made complex software behave the way technical users need, working at whatever level that requires, from architecture direction to product experience design to shipped code. At Intel that meant owning UX architecture for the wired Ethernet software portfolio, shipping production software across 40+ releases, and building developer tooling for a 1,000+ engineer organization. Along the way I generated three granted patents and several published filings. I’m at my best translating ambiguous real-world problems into systems that are reliable to build on and clear to use.
What I Do
I lead technical strategy, mentor engineers, and drive architecture and design decisions across products, platforms, and engineering workflows. My work spans product experience design, implementation, automation, and operational visibility, with a focus on improving reliability, maintainability, and usability. I collaborate effectively across disciplines and organizational levels, from individual contributors to executive leadership, to align technical direction with business and user needs.
Beyond Code
Outside of work, I continue exploring new technologies through personal engineering projects and hands-on experimentation. I also value time with my family, enjoy basketball both on and off the court, and take every opportunity I can to get in the water snorkeling. Continuous learning, curiosity, and staying engaged beyond the day-to-day remain central to how I grow as an engineer and architect.
Case Studies
Professional examples focused on architecture, UX-driven systems thinking, workflow design, and cross-functional influence.
Case Study Deep Dives
Detailed walkthroughs covering architecture decisions, product experience design, and hands-on builds. Names, data, and visuals are generalized or recreated to respect Intel confidentiality.
Professional Experience
Software Architecture & UX Consultant
Prism Aquatics | Remote (Part-Time, Advisory) | 2025 - Present
- Architected the API layer for Sentry, an aquarium water-quality monitor, decoupling hardware, backend, and front end so the UI can be swapped or run headless with minimal rework.
- Designed the on-device quick-glance interface and companion web dashboard for remote monitoring and early detection across multiple water-quality readings.
- Established naming conventions and a documentation plan to keep engineering and design decisions consistent.
Senior Systems Software Architect
Intel Corporation | Remote | 2022 - 2024
- Led UX architecture for Intel’s wired Ethernet software portfolio as the user advocate on architecture review committees, shaping customer-facing products and internal engineering platforms before designs were locked.
- Designed a Python, C#, and SQL validation framework that embedded version and device metadata into every CI build, cutting driver triage time 30% and maintenance overhead 25%.
- Defined and owned an org-wide OKR across a 1,000+ person engineering organization, building the automation and dashboards that cut requirements review cycles 50% and raised SLA compliance 45%.
- Assembled and led a 9-person Principal Engineer task force that prioritized 35+ UX and workflow initiatives by impact, effort, and ROI. Shipped results include firmware update improvements (two patents authored) and a unified Linux driver naming and stats convention that let customer scripts work across product families.
- Reviewed architecture and code in C++, C#, JavaScript, ASP.NET, and Python, informing system design and cross-team development standards.
Senior Human Factors Engineer
Intel Corporation | Hillsboro, OR | 2012 - 2022
- Owned UX architecture and final UX direction for Intel Ethernet software: user flows, GUI and CLI designs, API experience, installation flows, and error, permission, and recovery states across Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and ESX.
- Created portfolio UX standards, interaction patterns, and reusable custom controls, delivered as specs and implementation-ready code that engineering and QA built and validated against.
- Designed and built a centralized debugging and documentation hub for internal engineers and support staff, reducing tickets 20% and resolution time 15%.
- Prototyped workflows in Figma and C# with internal technical users, cutting design iteration cycles 30 to 40%.
- Represented customer experience and supportability on Intel’s End-of-Life committee, guiding keep-or-retire decisions tied to more than $50M in customer opportunities.
- Built and led a distributed 5-person UX-focused engineering team and mentored 7 to 8 engineers and PMs in ongoing engagements, with mentees earning divisional awards and grade-level promotions.
Network Software Engineer
Intel Corporation | Hillsboro, OR | 2005 - 2012
- Built production software across the Intel Ethernet stack, from hardware interfaces and middleware to Windows services, installers, and configuration tools, across 40+ releases contributing to over $1B in product revenue.
- Implemented WMI integrations and configuration UIs in C++, C#, WTL/ATL, and PowerShell to meet large-OEM requirements.
- Managed a $250K localization budget, directing spend across globalization teams to support worldwide product releases.
Patents
Patent work rooted in real user and system problems, spanning firmware update reliability, network device behavior, resource management, power optimization, and hardware-software interaction. Several of these inventions, including the granted firmware update patents, grew directly out of UX architecture work, where designing for failure recovery and progress transparency surfaced problems worth solving at the system level.
Granted Patents
- GrantedUS-12001826-B2
Device Firmware Update Techniques
Techniques for improving firmware update reliability through clearer device state handling and recoverable update behavior.
- GrantedUS-12254304-B2
Firmware Update Techniques
Approaches for managing firmware update flows across hardware devices with clearer update state and recovery behavior.
- GrantedUS-12413539-B2
Switch-Managed Resource Allocation and Software Execution
Techniques for coordinating resource allocation and software execution through switch-managed network device behavior.
Published Applications
- Published ApplicationUS-20230124192-A1
Heating and Cooling Systems for Edge Data Centers
Approaches to managing thermal behavior in compact edge computing environments through integrated heating and cooling systems.
- Published ApplicationUS-20220114011-A1
Methods and Apparatus for Network Interface Device-Based Edge Computing
Techniques for enabling edge processing behavior through smart network interface hardware.
- Published ApplicationUS-20210041929-A1
Dynamic Network Controller Power Management
Techniques for adjusting network controller power behavior based on workload and operational state.
- Published ApplicationUS-20200177660-A1
Offload of Streaming Protocol Packet Formation
Methods for offloading streaming packet formation work to networking hardware to improve system efficiency.
Engineering Projects
Hands-on engineering projects demonstrating practical software development, automation, hardware integration, and modern web experience through systems I use, maintain, and improve.
Featured Engineering Projects
Supporting Projects
My Approach
I approach software through the lens of real-world system behavior, user workflow, and technical practicality. My process blends engineering, design, and systems thinking so solutions are not only technically sound, but intuitive to use, maintain, and evolve.
Core principles that guide how I design software and the experiences around it:
Understand the Real Problem
I start by identifying root causes, constraints, and stakeholder goals rather than accepting surface-level feature requests at face value. Strong architecture begins with solving the correct problem.
Design Around Workflow
Systems should reflect how users and operators actually work. I map workflows, decision points, and system interactions early to reduce friction and eliminate ambiguity.
Weigh Cost, Value, and Tradeoffs
Every decision balances user value against implementation cost, support burden, and schedule. I make those tradeoffs explicit, and that includes recommending against building something when the cost outweighs the benefit.
Validate Before Committing
I use prototypes, technical reviews, and iterative feedback to validate assumptions before implementation scales, reducing downstream rework and architectural risk.
Architect for Operational Reality
Good architecture accounts for reliability, supportability, failure recovery, and maintainability, not just ideal-case functionality. I design systems with real operational conditions in mind.
Continuously Improve
Launch is not the finish line. I use support feedback, operational data, and evolving requirements to refine systems over time and improve long-term product quality.