PhD Hardware Development Intern: AI Data Infrastructure

Western Digital Capital; Fremont (CA); On-site; USD 57,859 - 77,145; Full time

Job summary

Western Digital is seeking a Fall 2026 PhD Intern for Hardware Development Engineering at our Fremont, CA office. This internship targets candidates pursuing or having completed a PhD in Engineering or related core sciences and offers exposure to real systems at scale in a leading data storage environment.

You will learn layer disposition workflows, support mask management, and assist senior engineers on project-based work, with compensation details provided in the posting.

Qualifications

• Pursuing or recently completed PhD in Engineering or core science (EE/ME/Physics).
• Ability to work in a fast-paced hardware development environment.
• Strong collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Learn how to disposition non-critical layers and assign ownership to their daily disposition and troubleshoot related excursions.
• Sustain layers owned with production to ensure smooth process for their layers.
• Photo process development work for new layers/future products.
• Work with mask management ME owner on day-to-day mask management tasks.
• Assist current ME to execute projects on a case-by-case basis.

Skills

Critical Thinking

Problem Solving

Communication

Education

PhD in Engineering or Core Science

Job description

Western Digital is seeking a Fall 2026 PhD Intern for Hardware Development Engineering at our Fremont, CA office. This internship targets candidates pursuing or having completed a PhD in Engineering or related core sciences and offers exposure to real systems at scale in a leading data storage environment.

You will learn layer disposition workflows, support mask management, and assist senior engineers on project-based work, with compensation details provided in the posting.