Director, Analyst Relations

Western Digital Corp.; California (MO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Western Digital Corp. is seeking a strategic Analyst Relations leader to shape how industry analysts view our data infrastructure and AI-enabled storage solutions.

You will partner with executives across product, engineering, and marketing to craft credible narratives and drive impactful engagements with Gartner, IDC, and others. Day-to-day responsibilities include managing analyst briefings, coordinating internal inputs, and developing an influencer network to extend WD’s reach in enterprise

Job description

WD is building the infrastructure behind the AI-driven data economy.

As AI scales, so does data. Every interaction, every model, every system generates data that must be stored, managed, and made accessible over time. That’s where we come in.

We combine deep engineering expertise with global-scale manufacturing to deliver the storage systems that make AI possible, powering hyperscale data centers, cloud platforms, and enterprise infrastructure worldwide.

This isn’t theoretical work. It’s real systems, at real scale, people solving some of the hardest challenges in technology today.

We’re looking for people who want to build, solve, and operate at that level.

Join us and let’s shape the future of data.

In this role, you will be responsible for building and scaling WD’s Analyst Relations program at a pivotal moment. Industry analyst perception shapes everything from customer purchasing decisions to partner confidence and investor sentiment. This role will drive all of WD’s engagement with industry analysts, and sits at the intersection of strategy, competitive intelligence, and external storytelling.

You will be the primary interface between our executive team and the world's most influential technology research firms — IDC, Gartner, Forrester, and beyond — shaping how they cover us in reports and briefings that enterprise buyers rely on daily.

Day to day, this means orchestrating a steady cadence of analyst briefings and inquiries, ensuring our most important voices — product, engineering, and the C‑suite — show up to those conversations prepared, on‑message, and with the right data. It also means tracking what analysts are writing and saying about WD and synthesizing those signals into actionable intelligence for internal stakeholders.

You will build and maintain genuine relationships with the analysts who matter most to our business, moving them from passive observers to informed advocates — people who have seen our roadmap, understand our differentiation, and can speak credibly about what we're building.

You'll also work closely with Corporate and Channel Marketing, Product Management, and Strategic Communications to ensure our external messaging is consistent across every analyst touchpoint.

As the program matures, there is a significant opportunity to extend WD’s reach beyond traditional research firms into the broader ecosystem of paid influencers who shape enterprise technology buying decisions. You will identify, evaluate, and build commercial relationships with a curated set of enterprise tech influencers — independent analysts, and former practitioners turned content creators with demonstrated reach in storage, infrastructure, cloud, and AI audiences. You will develop an engagement model and be critical to communicating WD’s value proposition.

You'll possess technical fluency and executive presence, be a skilled communicator who can translate complex product realities into sharp, differentiated narratives, and a cross‑functional collaborator. Critically, you'll bring an established network of analyst relationships to the role from day one.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Own and manage the full analyst relations calendar, including a structured cadence of briefings, inquiries, and debriefs with tier‑one firms such as Gartner, IDC and Omdia — ensuring consistent and strategic engagement across all relevant coverage areas
• Lead end-to-end participation in major analyst evaluations, coordinating internal stakeholders, managing submission timelines, reviewing draft reports, and driving response strategies to disputed or inaccurate positioning
• Develop and maintain a tiered analyst coverage map that identifies the most influential analysts