Principal Engineer / Technologist, Customer Quality Engineering

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.

As a System Characterization engineer, you will join the team responsible for the characterization of customer systems within the quality organization. A key aspect of this role is the identification of dynamics and vibration of customer systems that contribute to loss of performance and reliability, using measured results to formulate solutions for both internal and external customers. This role works closely with China-based customers to ensure successful HDD qualification, debug complex system-level issues, and drive improvements into product design and validation.

• Support system characterization team through detailed review of drive log to identify causes of failures and related drive problems on customer and qualification drives. Use log data and UECs to correlate to loss of performance or latency.
• Review and analyze Manufacturing data to establish a baseline for drives used in system characterization.
• Using system characterization results, collaborate with Engineering, manufacturing, and product teams to identify potential product improvements through tradeoffs with the engineering, manufacturing, and customer support teams.
• Understand new features impacting performance metrics such as command throughput and latency; develop associated failure analysis tools, processes, and documentation.
• Pro-actively engage with subject matter experts in Engineering (servo, mechanical, RSS), Customer Technical Support and Quality teams on customer and qualification issues and during cross-functional failure analysis task forces.
• Summarize findings and present information, ideas, and your perspective to peers, team members, and managers.
• Develop, improve, and document analysis, procedures, tool, and process improvements to expedite future characterization of systems.
• Travel within China and occasional international travel may be required to support customer engagements and joint investigations.
• Bachelors or MS degree in electrical or mechanical engineering.
• Background in servo control, statistics and signal processing.
• Detailed knowledge of Hard Drives and storage applications.
• Experience with servers and server testing and multiple OS (Linux, Windows).
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills; Mandarin required for customer engagement.
• Previous experience supporting China-based cloud/enterprise customers (Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, Baidu, ByteDance, OEM/ODMs).
• Excellent working knowledge of MATLAB.
• Familiarity with SAS/SATA protocol
• Proven application of applying technical skills to problem solving.
• Knowledge and experience with Python, C++, and/or SQL is a plus.
• Excellent interpersonal and teamworking skills.

Because Western Digital thrives on the power of diversity and is committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect, and contribution, we are committed to giving every qualified applicant and employee an equal opportunity. Western Digital does not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their protected class status and complies with all federal and state laws against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, as well as the laws and regulations set forth in the "Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law" poster.

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.

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