Phil Buchanan is a product leader, designer, developer, and educator in Toronto.

Phil is a product leader with over 15 years of experience applying design thinking to solve complex problems. A skilled product thinker, designer, and developer, he bridges the communication gap between these disciplines, enabling faster and more effective delivery. Phil is currently a Staff Software Engineer at Coveware, a cyber extortion incident response firm.

Previously, he served as Vice President of Product at Tetra Trust, where he was responsible for all aspects of product, design, and engineering. He has led product and design teams at several startups, helping launch zero-to-one products that collectively reach millions of users. Phil has also developed and delivered interaction design curriculum to hundreds of students in the Department of Design at York University.

Phil graduated with honours from the York University/Sheridan College Joint Program in Design.

Experience

• 2025 – Present

  Staff Software Engineer

  Coveware · Cyber Extortion Incident Response

• 2022 – 2025

  Vice President, Product

  Tetra Trust Company · Regulated Fintech

• 2018 – 2022

  Director of Digital

  Aubs & Mugg · Government, Healthcare, & Academia

• 2014 – 2019

  Course Director and Lecturer

  York University · Education

• 2017 – 2018

  Head of Design

  Hubdoc · Fintech · Acquired by Xero in 2018

• 2015 – 2017

  Manager, Product Design

  EventMobi · Event Services

• 2011 – 2015

  Lead Web Designer / Developer

  Context Creative · Utilities & Healthcare

• 2008 – 2011

  Intermediate Graphic Designer

  I-Connect · Digital Signage

Education

Bachelor of Design with Honours (BDes)

York University / Sheridan College Program in Design

Specialities

• Design leadership

  Hiring, career growth, coaching, project management

• Design education

  Developing curriculum, lecturing, evaluation

• Design execution

  User-centered, user experience, and user interface design, creating and maintaining design systems

• Product development

  Product strategy, customer interviews, roadmaps, product specifications, agile development processes, project management

• Frontend development

  HTML, CSS, TypeScript, JavaScript frameworks (React and Angular), accessibility, custom component libraries