Director, Hardware Development Engineering

Company: Western Digital
Location: Fremont
Posted on: February 10, 2026

Job Description:

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 and capture the first-ever picture of a black hole. We offer an expansive portfolio of technologies, HDDs, and platforms for business, creative professionals, and consumers alike under our Western Digital®, WD®, WD_BLACK™ Professional brands. We are a key partner to some of the largest and highest-growth organizations in the world. From enabling systems to make cities safer and more connected, to powering the data centers behind many of the world’s biggest companies and hyperscale cloud providers, to meeting the massive and ever-growing data storage needs of the AI era, Western Digital is fueling a brighter, smarter future. Today’s exceptional challenges require your unique skills. Together, we can build the future of data storage. Job Description The Director, Hardware Development Engineering serves as a Module Manager and as a leader overseeing 2 -4 1st line managers across Manufacturing Process and Equipment disciplines. The Module Manager must set direction, priority and coordinate between manufacturing, maintenance, logistics/supply chain, process and equipment engineering groups to resolve issues that affect wafer cycletime and quality. Additionally, the Module Manager will provide leadership, coaching, and mentorship to create a cohesive self-sustaining team. Maintain oversight of issues related to process and equipment and drive resolution of problems that arise. Drive systematic and engineering solutions to improve the manufacturing process. Adapt to changes on the fly and pursue alternate paths, when necessary to achieve objectives: Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Manage a cross functional module team of process and equipment engineers to sustain and improve manufacturing output Identify and drive resolution of problems that could impact output, quality and/or cost Monitor tool performance as needed and react to out-of-control situations Approach and drive solutions with cross functional groups Track employee performance and deliverables to ensure expectations are being met Provide timely coaching to develop and enhance the performance of your direct reports Conduct periodic performance reviews and ensure assessments are fair, consistent Address performance problems in a timely fashion and take appropriate action(s) Ensure the consistent application of appropriate disciplinary actions, when warranted Promote and implement “Lean” manufacturing methodologies, sustainability and scalability Qualifications Required: BS/MS/PhD in either of the following: Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Materials Engineering, Magnetics, Chemical Engineering, Data Analysis, Statistics, Chemistry, Physics and/or Business Administration/Management or equivalent experience Minimum 10 years in wafer manufacturing and management Strong knowledge and familiarity of semiconductor wafer manufacturing (thin film etch, deposition, magnetics, photolithography, metrology, plating, chemical mechanical planarization), operations and logistics. Able to extract, summarize, interpret and present data and apply to decision making Project management experience Proficiency in Excel, Powerpoint, data analytics and statistics History of problem solving; able to drive problems to resolution Understand manufacturing and factory systems and how they interact with one another Excellent communication skills, verbal and written Additional Information Western Digital is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate 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 Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law poster. 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. Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be 04/28/2026 (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. The salary range 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 York or 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 Western Digital’s Short Term Incentive Plan (“STI Plan”) or the Sales 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 Western Digital’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 Western Digital 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 Companys sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law

Keywords: Western Digital, Berkeley , Director, Hardware Development Engineering, Engineering , Fremont, California