Full-Time
Software Engineering Program Manager
Posted on 2/20/2024
Western Digital
10,001+ employees
Global data storage hardware and solutions
No salary listed
Company Historically Provides H1B Sponsorship
Milpitas, CA, USA
The role should ideally be located in the Bay Area or Irvine area, but the organization is remote-friendly and would consider making it a remote role for the right candidate.
The role should ideally be located in the Bay Area or Irvine area, but the organization is remote-friendly and would consider making it a remote role for the right candidate.
The role should ideally be located in the Bay Area or Irvine area, but the organization is remote-friendly and would consider making it a remote role for the right candidate.
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 Software Engineering |
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- Bachelor of Science in Computer Science/Engineering or related technical degree
- 6+ years of experience in program management
- Ability to coordinate among geographically distributed teams
- Experience working with OKR framework for tracking deliverables and impact to business
- Understanding Flash technologies and storage concepts will be a plus
- Hands-on experience driving concurrent complex software releases
- Proactively identify upcoming risks, inefficiencies, issues, and bottlenecks
- Effectively communicate status to cross functional teams as well as upper management
- Responsive and keen on process improvement to improve development efficiency and accountability
- Identify risks and mitigations required to meet schedules and quality
- Able to adapt process and structure to the size of the team and project
- Collaborate with various functional groups to plan, execute and deliver
- Understanding Flash technologies and storage concepts
Western Digital designs and manufactures data storage hardware and software, including network-attached storage (NAS), storage area networks (SAN), and private cloud infrastructure. These products work by using all-flash arrays for high-speed data processing and multiple host ports to allow for parallel performance in clustered business environments. Unlike many competitors, the company offers a specialized JetStor brand that balances high-performance capabilities with cost-effective pricing for both small businesses and large enterprises. Their goal is to provide reliable, high-capacity storage solutions that help organizations manage and protect their digital information efficiently.
Company Size
10,001+
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
San Jose, California
Founded
2014
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- New Sarawak glass substrate plant boosts 80TB HDD capacity for explosive AI infrastructure growth imminent.
- Long-term agreements through 2029 lock in 25% annual storage growth, transforming WD into AI infrastructure landlord.
- 50.5% adjusted gross margins reflect premium pricing power from critical persistent data storage for AI workloads.
What critics are saying
- Seagate's superior HAMR drives erode WD's 40TB+ capacity advantage within 12–18 months with high impact.
- SK Hynix's NVMe-U expansion triggers nearline SSD price war, compressing cloud margins by over 15% soon.
- Hyperscaler consolidation shifts 30% of data center contracts to Seagate via long-term HAMR deals within 24 months.
What makes Western Digital unique
- WD shifted from commodity sales to multi-year infrastructure contracts securing AI storage demand now.
- WD divested SanDisk in 2025, insulating core storage from NAND pricing volatility affecting pure memory firms.
- WD acquired Hoya's Singapore sputtering assets to secure glass substrate supply for next-gen HAMR drives.
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Benefits
Paid sick leave & vacation time
Medical/dental/vision insurance
Life, accident, & disability insurance
Tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts
Employee assistance program
Tuition reimbursement
Employee stock purchase plan
Western Digital Savings 401(k) Plan
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↓ -4%1 year growth
↓ -4%2 year growth
↓ -4%Western Digital and SanDisk separated in 2025 but both sell storage to AI data centres. On Thursday, Western Digital rose 15.4% to $533.04 while SanDisk jumped 26% to $1,279.96 after Samsung forecast worsening memory supply shortages through 2028. Western Digital needs a 47% gain to reach its record high of $799.87, whilst SanDisk requires 94% to hit $2,354.39. Western Digital's fiscal third-quarter revenue rose 45% year-over-year to $3.3 billion. Management forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $3.65 billion, implying 36% to 44% growth, with adjusted earnings of about $3.25 per share at 51% to 52% gross margin. CEO Irving Tan noted strong sequential and year-over-year revenue growth whilst expanding margins.
KIOXIA NX1 series: first SSD with direct liquid cooling for AI data centers. KIOXIA has unveiled its first SSD with support for direct liquid cooling: the NX1 series. The new NVMe SSDs utilize PCIe 5.0, come in the E1.S form factor, and are specifically designed for GPU servers and hyperscale data centers. The NX1 series thus succeeds the previous XD series. The series was announced on July 29, 2026. Anyone interested in taking a closer look at the drives will have the opportunity to do so in early August: KIOXIA will showcase the NX1 series from August 4 to 6 at the FMS: The Future of Memory and Storage trade show in Santa Clara. New controller architecture for AI workloads. The NX1 series is built on a next-generation controller architecture developed entirely in-house. With this, KIOXIA aims not only to meet the current demands of AI and cloud environments but also to create room for future features. "We developed the NX1 series to meet these new requirements. Support for direct liquid cooling, combined with a high-performance and energy-efficient storage solution, makes this possible," explains Paul Rowan, Chief Marketing Officer & Vice President at KIOXIA Europe. The storage technology used is 8th-generation BiCS FLASH with CBA (CMOS directly Bonded to Array) architecture. Enterprise SSDs for data centers are a growing segment - most recently, Western Digital, for example, introduced new Ultrastar models for data centers. Up to 38 percent higher write performance. Compared to the XD8 series, the KIOXIA NX1 series shows a noticeable improvement: sequential write speeds increase by up to 38 percent, while random write performance increases by up to 20 percent. Key specifications at a glance: The drives are also compliant with the Open Compute Project (OCP) specification and support NVMe Flexible Data Placement (FDP). An optional SED (Self-Encrypting Drive) model compliant with TCG Opal is available - though not in all countries, depending on local legal requirements. Direct liquid cooling in the E1.S form factor. The real innovation is the cooling system. The NX1 series is KIOXIA's first SSD to support direct liquid cooling. The 9.5-mm variant can be integrated directly into the liquid cooling system of a densely packed AI server environment via a cold plate, while the 15-mm version relies on traditional air cooling. Especially for GPU servers with many accelerators, the compact E1.S form factor helps balance storage density and thermal management. Conclusion: Availability of the KIOXIA NX1 Series. The KIOXIA NX1 series is currently undergoing sampling with select hyperscale customers; a specific market launch date has not yet been announced. For data center operators, however, the combination of PCIe 5.0, higher write performance, and liquid cooling offers an intriguing prospect.
Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson raised his price target for Seagate Technology to $1,000 from $825 and lifted Western Digital's target to $650 from $540, maintaining Outperform ratings on both stocks. The firms supply high-capacity hard drives to cloud providers storing AI-generated data. Despite the bullish call, both stocks fell approximately 6.1% on 27 July. Seagate trades around $800, whilst Western Digital sits at $487.87. Wedbush expects hard-drive shortages to persist into 2027 as hyperscalers reserve capacity years in advance. However, Seagate has already committed much of its fiscal 2027 capacity through long-term agreements with pre-set pricing. Seagate reports fiscal fourth-quarter results on 28 July, with Western Digital following on 5 August. Investors await confirmation that pricing gains can offset revenue constraints from limited production capacity.
Western Digital has emerged as a compelling AI infrastructure play, with shares surging 201.8% this year. The storage solutions provider reported third-quarter revenues of $3.34 billion, up 45% year over year, driven by strong demand for enterprise hard disk drives supporting AI workloads. The company expects fourth-quarter revenues of approximately $3.65 billion, signalling continued robust demand as enterprises and cloud providers expand storage capacity for AI applications. This growth contrasts with Nvidia's more modest 10.9% gain this year. Whilst Nvidia faces challenges including intensifying competition, US export controls limiting China access, and supply chain concerns related to Taiwan Semiconductor dependency, Western Digital appears positioned to capitalise on the broader AI infrastructure buildout. The storage specialist benefits from favourable pricing conditions and increasing enterprise demand for high-value storage solutions essential to AI deployment.
Super Micro Computer and Western Digital represent two different approaches to capturing AI infrastructure growth, according to a recent analysis. SMCI builds AI servers optimised for NVIDIA, AMD and Intel processors using its modular "Building Block" design, which enables rapid product variations and quicker deployment. The company is expanding beyond server manufacturing into full-stack AI data centre solutions. Its Data Center Building Block Solutions now contribute over 4% of profits, with targets to reach 25% over time. Software revenue from data centre management tools exceeded $46 million. Despite ongoing component shortages, SMCI maintains strong supplier relationships and reports no disruption in NVIDIA GPU supply. The company is expanding manufacturing capacity across the US, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Netherlands, with its Silicon Valley campus expected to produce over 6,000 AI racks monthly. Gross margin is projected at 8.2-8.4% for the fourth quarter.