Senior Principal Supply Chain Engineer - HDD and Data Center

Western Digital Corp.; Juneau (AK); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Western Digital Corp. is seeking a Supply Chain Innovation Manager to partner with ecosystem and suppliers, driving new tech adoption and TCO reduction across manufacturing and engineering. You will translate technical advances into scalable, cost-effective supply chain solutions.

The role blends technical leadership with supplier-facing collaboration, using data-driven problem solving to improve capacity, resilience, and sustainability across the supplier network. Travel will be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Mechanical, Material Science, Electronics, Physics, Chemical, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related technical field.
• Extensive experience in supply chain engineering, manufacturing engineering, supplier development, or related roles.
• Experience working directly with suppliers on technical, operational, or cost-reduction initiatives.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a data-driven mindset.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed.

Responsibilities

• Partner with suppliers to evaluate, pilot, and scale new technologies, processes, and materials that improve cost, performance, quality, and time-to-market.
• Serve as a technical interface between suppliers and internal engineering, manufacturing, quality, and procurement teams.
• Identify and drive supplier-led innovation opportunities aligned with product and supply chain roadmaps.
• Lead initiatives to reduce total cost of ownership through design-for-manufacturability, process optimization, automation, yield improvement, and lifecycle cost analysis.
• Evaluate trade-offs across cost, quality, risk, sustainability, and scalability to inform sourcing and technology decisions.
• Support should-cost modeling and fact-based negotiations through deep technical and process understanding.
• Assess and improve supplier capacity, scalability, and technical readiness to support current and future business demand.
• Drive initiatives to improve supplier operational maturity, including process capability, equipment readiness, workforce skills, and digitalization.
• Partner with supply chain and operations teams to strengthen supplier resilience, including dual sourcing, risk mitigation, and recovery planning.
• Collaborate with suppliers and internal quality teams to improve process capability, reduce variability, and prevent escapes.
• Lead root cause analysis and corrective action for systemic supplier issues.
• Promote continuous improvement methodologies across the supplier base (Lean, Six Sigma, SPC).
• Support supplier sustainability initiatives related to environmental impact and responsible sourcing.
• Work closely with engineering, manufacturing, quality, procurement, finance, and program management teams to align priorities and execution.
• Communicate complex technical and supply chain topics clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Influence to drive alignment and results across organizational boundaries.

Skills

Supply chain engineering

Manufacturing engineering

Supplier development

Data-driven mindset

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical field

Job description

Western Digital Corp. is seeking a Supply Chain Innovation Manager to partner with ecosystem and suppliers, driving new tech adoption and TCO reduction across manufacturing and engineering. You will translate technical advances into scalable, cost-effective supply chain solutions.

The role blends technical leadership with supplier-facing collaboration, using data-driven problem solving to improve capacity, resilience, and sustainability across the supplier network. Travel will be required.