Head of Platform Engineering — Hyperscale Storage

Western Digital; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 307,000 - 410,000; Full time

Job summary

Western Digital Corp. is seeking a Vice President of Engineering for Platforms to lead the organization responsible for designing, developing, and scaling next‑generation high‑density storage architectures.

This role owns the storage platform roadmap across ultra-dense JBODs and storage servers, managing hardware, firmware, and manufacturing engineering teams to deliver reliable, cost‑efficient storage solutions for AI workloads.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 15+ years of hands‑on engineering experience, including 8+ years in multi-layer senior management roles, leading teams of 50+ employees, geographically spread in US and Asia, directly handling enterprise hardware platforms and NPI‑to‑mass‑production lifecycles.
• 8+ years of experience working directly with tier‑1 & tier‑2 enterprise customers, establishing executive-level relationships.
• CM & Vendor Management: Proven track record of managing tier‑1 global Contract Manufacturers or ODMs to deliver hardware at hyperscale volumes.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Execution: Drive the development lifecycles of next-generation high-capacity storage enclosures from initial concept through architecture, board bring-up, validation, and global high-volume manufacturing.
• Engineering Leadership: Build, manage, and mentor a high-performance team of engineering directors, managers, and principal architects across electrical, mechanical, firmware, and operations domains.
• Manufacturing Operations & CM Governance: Oversee the manufacturing engineering and operations teams responsible for transitioning designs from the lab to the factory floor.
• NPI & Mass Production Lifecycle: Drive early-stage prototype NPI builds, factory bring-up, and engineering validation tests, establishing processes to scale into high-volume production.
• Vendor & Supply Chain Management: Lead technical engagements and design reviews with silicon suppliers, component vendors, and CM partners to enforce DFM/DFA and cost-reduction targets.
• Operational Excellence: Oversee the departmental budget, capital allocation, headcount planning, factory tooling costs, and risk mitigation strategies.
• Customer knowledge: Demonstrate deep understanding of customers and data center ecosystems to inform technical product development.

Job description

Western Digital Corp. is seeking a Vice President of Engineering for Platforms to lead the organization responsible for designing, developing, and scaling next‑generation high‑density storage architectures.

This role owns the storage platform roadmap across ultra-dense JBODs and storage servers, managing hardware, firmware, and manufacturing engineering teams to deliver reliable, cost‑efficient storage solutions for AI workloads.