Senior Technologist, System Architecture - AI Adoption & Development

Western Digital Corporation; Rochester (MN); On-site; USD 188,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

RSU awards

Stock options/RSUs

Comprehensive benefits

401(k) plan

Paid time off

Job summary

Western Digital Corporation is seeking a Senior Technologist in the CTO System Architecture team to guide AI adoption, tool development, and best practices across technology planning and engineering processes. You will define how WD uses AI agents, large language models, and intelligent automation to improve strategic decision‑making and cross‑functional alignment.

This high‑visibility role offers mentorship, leadership impact, and the chance to shape WD's long‑range technology roadmap at scale,

Qualifications

• 7+ years in technology leadership, systems engineering, or AI/data platform development.
• Hands-on experience building AI agents, LLM applications, or agentic workflows in production.
• Strong background in data architecture, data pipelines, and analytics tool development.
• Proven ability to ship AI tools end-to-end and translate business problems into AI solutions.
• Excellent communication skills; ability to inspire adoption across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Leadership experience mentoring engineers and influencing cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Define AI Vision — Establish WD's adoption roadmap and best practices for AI agents, LLMs, and intelligent tools across technology planning and engineering processes
• Lead AI‑Managed Roadmap Platform Evolution — Guide post-launch improvements to our AI‑enabled technology roadmap dashboard and chat interface, ensuring it becomes the organization's single source of truth
• Develop High‑Impact Agents — Oversee design and development of transformational AI agents that automate status tracking, gap identification, and insight generation
• Influence Cross‑Functional Adoption — Partner with engineering and technology leadership to establish governance, standards, and ROI metrics for AI tool deployment
• Build Internal Expertise — Mentor co‑op engineers to technologists; foster a culture of AI‑driven systems thinking across teams
• Evaluate Partnerships & Vendors — Assess and recommend strategic AI/LLM vendors and platform partnerships aligned with WD's needs

Skills

Technology leadership

Systems engineering

AI/data platform development

AI agents

LLM applications

Data architecture

Analytics tool development

Communication skills

Job description

• Full-time
• Job Type (exemption status): Exempt position - Please see related compensation & benefits details below
• Salary Range: 187,800.00-250,400.00
• Business Function: R&D Engineering

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

WD's CTO System Architecture is seeking a Senior Technologist to lead AI adoption, tool development, and best practices across our technology planning, roadmap execution, and cross‑functional engineering processes. You'll define how WD uses AI agents, large language models, and intelligent automation to improve strategic decision‑making, operational visibility, and organizational alignment — influencing adoption across System Architecture and cross‑functional technology and engineering teams.

This is a high‑impact, high‑visibility role for a technologist who combines deep AI expertise with strategic thinking, mentorship capability, and the drive to transform how an organization plans and executes technology strategy at scale.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

What You'll Do

• Define AI Vision — Establish WD's adoption roadmap and best practices for AI agents, LLMs, and intelligent tools across technology planning and engineering processes
• Lead AI‑Managed Roadmap Platform Evolution — Guide post‑launch improvements to our AI‑enabled technology roadmap dashboard and chat interface, ensuring it becomes the organization's single source of truth
• Develop High‑Impact Agents — Oversee design and development of transformational AI agents that automate status tracking, gap identification, and insight generation
• Influence Cross‑Functional Adoption — Partner with engineering and technology leadership to establish governance, standards, and ROI metrics for AI tool deployment
• Build Internal Expertise — Mentor co‑op engineers to technologists; foster a culture of AI‑driven systems thinking across teams
• Evaluate Partnerships & Vendors — Assess and recommend strategic AI/LLM vendors and platform partnerships aligned with WD's needs

What You'll Gain

• Shape how a global technology leader plans and executes long‑range strategy
• Work with cutting‑edge AI tools in real, high‑stakes environments with significant organizational impact
• Mentor and build a community of AI‑enabled technologists
• Direct visibility with CTO leadership and cross‑functional executive stakeholders
• Strategic influence over technology adoption and organizational effectiveness

Qualifications

Required:

• 7+ years in technology leadership, systems engineering, or AI/data platform development
• Deep hands‑on experience building AI agents, LLM applications, or agentic workflows in production environments
• Strong background in data architecture, data pipelines, and analytics tool development
• Proven ability to ship AI tools end‑to‑end and translate business problems into AI solutions
• Excellent communication skills; ability to inspire adoption across technical and non‑technical audiences
• Leadership experience mentoring engineers and influencing cross‑functional teams

Preferred:

• Experience with RAG systems, enterprise knowledge management, or LLM frameworks
• Background in process improvement, operational transformation, or change management
• Track record building internal developer tools or enterprise software platforms
• Exposure to technology roadmap planning, R&D strategy, or long‑range product planning
• Background in storage systems or semiconductor technology

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 be 1/29/2027(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.
• Thesalaryrange 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 Yorkor 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 theSales 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 WDand 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] .