Servo Compute Architecture Lead – Real-Time Multi-Actuator

Western Digital Corporation; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 216,000 - 288,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid vacation time

Medical/dental/vision insurance

401(k) plan

Job summary

Western Digital Corporation seeks an experienced HDD Servo Processing Subsystem Architecture Lead to drive the servo real-time compute platform architecture, including firmware architecture, ISA, and SoC microarchitecture, enabling next‑gen HDD products with multiple data streams and multi‑actuator control.

The role leads cross-functional teams across locations, balancing technical feasibility with program schedules, power envelopes, and cost constraints to shape the future of storage technology.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or an equivalent degree and professional experience.
• Master's degree or relevant professional certification desirable.
• PhD or specialist certification with real-time, multi-core architecture highly desirable.
• 10+ years of professional experience in embedded architecture and development, with focus on real-time control/storage/servo applications.
• 5+ years in senior technical leadership roles with cross-functional influence.
• Deep expertise in digital signal processing and real-time systems.

Responsibilities

• Define future-state servo real-time compute architecture and ISA for multi-stream data and multi-actuator control.
• Co-lead SoC microarchitecture decisions affecting servo compute, including cores, memory, interconnects, and accelerator mappings.
• Own servo compute resource management and budgeting, including memory allocation and regression thresholds.
• Lead firmware platform architecture, multi-cluster/orchestration, and cross-generation stability for real-time performance.
• Drive evolution of servo compute tooling ecosystem (compiler, simulator, Renode-based systems) for cross-team debugging.
• Coordinate across distributed teams to align platform decisions with risk, schedules and customer experience objectives.

Skills

C/C++ programming

HDL

MATLAB/Simulink

Renode/Verilator/LLVM

Cross-functional leadership

Servo control theory

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering or Computer Science

Master's degree desirable

PhD desirable

Tools

Renode

Verilator

LLVM

Job description

Western Digital Corporation seeks an experienced HDD Servo Processing Subsystem Architecture Lead to drive the servo real-time compute platform architecture, including firmware architecture, ISA, and SoC microarchitecture, enabling next‑gen HDD products with multiple data streams and multi‑actuator control.

The role leads cross-functional teams across locations, balancing technical feasibility with program schedules, power envelopes, and cost constraints to shape the future of storage technology.