Senior Director, IT - Engineering Services

Company Description

At Western Digital, our vision is to power global innovation and push the boundaries of technology to make what you thought was once impossible, possible.

At our core, Western Digital is a company of problem solvers. People achieve extraordinary things given the right technology. For decades, we’ve been doing just that. Our technology helped people put a man on the moon.

We are a key partner to some of the largest and highest growth organizations in the world. From energizing the most competitive gaming platforms, to enabling systems to make cities safer and cars smarter and more connected, to powering the data centers behind many of the world’s biggest companies and public cloud, Western Digital is fueling a brighter, smarter future.

Binge-watch any shows, use social media or shop online lately? You’ll find Western Digital supporting the storage infrastructure behind many of these platforms. And, that flash memory card that captures and preserves your most precious moments? That’s us, too.

We offer an expansive portfolio of technologies, storage devices and platforms for business and consumers alike. Our data-centric solutions are comprised of the Western Digital®, G-Technology™, SanDisk® and WD® brands.

Today’s exceptional challenges require your unique skills. It’s You & Western Digital. Together, we’re the next BIG thing in data.

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Senior Director of IT to lead and modernize IT services supporting our Global Product Engineering Organization within a high-tech and manufacturing environment. Our products involve highly complex data storage hardware and firmware, and while experience across both hardware and software engineering is essential, this role will primarily focus on hardware engineering support.

As a trusted partner to Engineering Executive Leadership and Mid-Level Management, the Senior Director will operate at both the strategic and tactical levels. The mission is to accelerate engineering efficiency and innovation through modern technologies, best-in-class practices, and intelligent integration of AI-driven accelerators.

This role requires exceptional communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to build and sustain bi-directional partnerships between IT and engineering teams. The successful candidate will also possess a holistic understanding of end-to-end product lifecycle flows, from ideation through design, validation, and manufacturing, as well as strong IT infrastructure experience.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the senior IT leader supporting global hardware and firmware engineering organizations.
• Partner with engineering executives and managers to define, align, and deliver IT strategies that enable innovation, velocity, and scalability.
• Modernize engineering technologies, processes, and practices to improve efficiency, quality, and collaboration.
• Drive AI adoption across engineering workflows where it can meaningfully accelerate design, validation, and decision-making.
• Champion IT–Engineering partnership, ensuring open communication, transparency, and mutual alignment on priorities.
• Oversee IT capabilities supporting product lifecycle management (PLM), CAD, EDA, test automation, simulation, and other engineering tools.
• Collaborate with business and manufacturing IT teams to ensure continuity and efficiency from product ideation through manufacturing handoff.
• Provide leadership across IT infrastructure supporting engineering workloads, including compute, storage, high-performance environments, and cloud integration.
• Lead vendor and partner negotiations, ensuring cost-effective and scalable solutions.
• Develop, mentor, and inspire a global IT team to meet the evolving needs of engineering.

Qualifications

• Proven success supporting large, global hardware and firmware engineering organizations in a high-tech or manufacturing company.
• Strong knowledge of end-to-end product development and manufacturing processes.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted, collaborative partnerships with engineers, from executives to technical leads.
• 15 years of progressive IT leadership experience, including senior leadership roles.
• Strong background in product engineering systems, including PLM, CAD/EDA, and related tools.
• Deep understanding of hardware engineering workflows, complemented by exposure to software engineering practices.
• Experience with AI/ML applications in engineering or IT domains.
• Experience in IT infrastructure, including high-performance compute, storage, virtualization, and cloud.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and influence skills with the ability to engage at all organizational levels.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (Master’s preferred).

Additional Information

Western Digital 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.

Western Digital 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.

Western Digital 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 [email protected] 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 12/8/2024 (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.

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