Engineer Embedded System Engineering

Western Digital; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 77,500 - 103,300; Full time

Job summary

Western Digital is seeking an Embedded System Engineer to provide electronics support across firmware, manufacturing, and customer-facing teams for HDD products in the Irvine office. The role emphasizes collaboration with firmware and hardware design teams to resolve issues quickly and ensure product schedules stay on track.

Ideal candidates have a strong background in electrical engineering, hardware debugging, and software skills in C++, with experience in data mining failure trends and

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or Computer Engineering.
• Experience with failure modes to triage system failures and use of tools to isolate failures.
• Experience with high speed signal guidelines of PCBs and identifying signal integrity problems.
• Proficient in hardware debug using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, bus analyzers and related tools.

Responsibilities

• Provide firmware support and collaborate with FW team to utilize new hardware features.
• Work with HW design team to resolve electronics issues quickly and avoid schedule delays.
• Collaborate with manufacturing to monitor failures and protect yield and shipments.
• Partner with FAE and WWFA teams to avoid customer impact and drive data-driven failure analysis.
• Apply methodical problem-solving to improve equipment and test methodologies.
• Own and maintain debugging tools and scripts for area of responsibility.
• Provide status updates with clear summaries of complex issues.

Skills

C++ programming

Hardware debugging

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

BS/MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or Computer Engineering

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Bus analyzers

GHS Probe

Serial Debugger

Test muxes

Signal generators

Job description

• Job Type (exemption status): Exempt position - Please see related compensation & benefits details below
• Salary Range: 77,500.00-103,300.00
• Business Function: Systems Design Engineering
• Work Location: Irvine Office--LOC_WDT_USCA01

Company 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.

Job Description

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Embedded System Engineer to provide electronics support to firmware, manufacturing, and customer facing teams for all HDD products:
• Provide firmware support. Collaborate with firmware development teams to ensure new hardware features are utilized completely and correctly. Work with the FW and HW design team to quickly resolve any electronic issues to ensure product schedules are not gated - includes working with the FW team to come up with a Firmware solution for hardware use cases.
• Provide Manufacturing Support. Collaborate with manufacturing teams to ensure electronic issues are quickly resolved to not impact yield, quality, or shipments to customers. Develop tools and data mining strategies to monitor and assess failure trends in manufacturing.
• Provide Customer Support. Collaborate with FAE and WWFA teams to ensure issues do not delay qualification or impact customer satisfaction. Data mining of customer data for failure trends.
• Embedded System Engineers have broad system level knowledge and some subject matter expertise in one or more areas of the design. They should be aware of technical advances within their area of specialization and may contribute to setting the direction necessary for the group to continuously improve its ability to solve problems and provide support.
• Embedded System Engineers should utilize methodical problem-solving processes. They are proficient in using debug tools and techniques. They should own and maintain the tools utilized in their area of expertise. They should be able to independently solve complex problems in their area of expertise.
• Engineers should meet their goals with some direction and supervision. They should proactively provide status with clear and concise summaries of complex problems.

Qualifications

REQUIRED

• BS/MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or Computer Engineering
• Experience with failure modes to triage system failures, and use of tools to isolate failure(s) of a particular design area: Blink Codes, error logs (ShowStop/Debug Snapshots), Bus Traces, firmware Event Trace Logging (ETL), debug PCBA design
• Experience with high speed signal guidelines of printed circuit boards and ability to identify potential signal integrity problems when reviewing schematics
• Proficient in Hardware debug using oscilloscopes, signal generators, logic analyzers, bus analyzers, hardware embedded trace, test muxes, GHS Probe, and Serial Debugger.
• System level knowledge of HDD with understanding of both firmware and hardware.

SKILLS

• Experience programming using C++ code.
• Ability to modify code for design-of-experiments.
• Ability to develop and maintain test scripts written in TCL and Python.
• Strong Problem Solving including practical knowledge of A3 and 8D methodologies.
• Strong communication. Especially the ability to collaborate across engineering organizations, geographies, and cultures. Also, the ability to provide clear and concise summaries of complex problems.

Additional Information

WD is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. We also prohibit harassment of any individual on any of the characteristics listed above. Our non-discrimination policy applies to all aspects of employment. We comply with the laws and regulations set forth in the "Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal" poster. Our pay transparency policy is available here .

WD thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, our company, our customers, and the world around us. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution.

WD is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at [e-mail] to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will 010/10/2026(3 months from posting), although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline. If we are not able to hire someone from this role before the application deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated application deadline.

Compensation & Benefits Details

• An employee’s pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
• The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York. This range may be modified in the future.
• If your position is non‑exempt, you are eligible for overtime pay pursuant to company policy and applicable laws. You may also be eligible for shift differential pay, depending on the shift to which you are assigned.

You will be eligible to be considered for bonuses under either WD’s Short Term Incentive Plan (“STI Plan”) or the Sales Incentive Plan (“SIP”) which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance, depending on your role and your performance. You may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to WD's Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards.

• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity; tuition reimbursement; transit; the Applause Program; employee stock purchase plan; and the WD Savings 401(k) Plan.
• Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.

Notice To Candidates: Please be aware that WD and its subsidiaries will never request payment as a condition for applying for a position or receiving an offer of employment. Should you encounter any such requests, please report it immediately to WD Ethics Helpline or email [e-mail].