Job Description

Western Digital Corporation is seeking an experienced engineer in Irvine, CA, as a product development Quality Assurance Program Manager (QAPM) who is passionate about driving continuous improvements into product development and manufacturing. This is an exciting time to be in the storage industry as cloud computing, enterprise datacenters, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data analytics, social media, and the Internet of Things are creating an avalanche of content that must be efficiently stored and managed to harness its full potential. Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) are the primary means of data storage in the cloud.

We are looking for a passionate problem solver to develop both a deep and broad understanding of HDD customer usage and understand where our people, processes, and systems need to improve in order to design and launch products that exceed customers quality and reliability expectations.  As a product development QAPM, you will work closely with cross-functional teams in engineering, quality assurance, manufacturing, and supplier quality and serve as the quality leader to the product core management team in order to drive quality improvements into the programs from the start of new program development until high volume production is achieved.  You will be responsible for collaboration with engineering development teams from all functions, reviewing designs, assessing risks of new technology, developing risk mitigation plans, developing validation improvement recommendations, collaborating with cross-functional teams to implement your recommendations, and providing your product launch readiness recommendation at key development checkpoints. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: 

·Owner of product quality, drives activities to meet overall product quality and reliability objectives

·Focal point and voice of Quality and Reliability in Product Development Core Teams and Product Development Teams (PDT)

·Regular presentations to executives and customers on quality initiatives and status

·Own the product Master Test Plan (MTP), quality criteria and approvals for product phase milestones/gates, and Engineering Change (EC)

·Lead the core teams in assessing quality and reliability risks to products

·Facilitate Lessons Learned (LL) analysis from prior products to mitigate program risk

·Facilitate Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) activity to mitigate program risk

·Collaborate with reliability teams on MTP and summarize verification status to the core team and management

·Perform qualitative and quantitative analyses of product designs, validation coverage, and report on the top-quality issues impacting the organization.

·Review design and development of new technologies with subject matter experts and assess risks and gaps in validation

·Monitor data intelligence metrics from manufacturing and reliability tests and collaborate with data analytics teams on metric improvements

The QAPM is responsible for engagement with each function team on the MTP, LLs, & FMEA activities throughout the product development phases and key milestones (phase gates).  The QAPM works closely with Marketing and Application Engineering teams to check all customer-specific quality requirements.  For each product milestone, the QAPM will perform risk assessments and make “product release” or “release on-hold” recommendations to the Quality VP.  After product qualifications are complete, the QAPM will collaborate with the sustaining factory quality team and Customer Quality Management (CQM) teams on Lessons Learned for any design related issues to drive improvements on the next products. This role requires collaboration with a core team located in Irvine and stakeholders across the US and Asia. 

Qualifications

·Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, science, or equivalent

• 10+ years of storage product design, integration, or validation experience
• Experience interfacing with multiple development organization engineers on a technical basis
• Self-motivated, employee engaging, and unafraid to develop relationships with remote employees across the company
• Proficient in verbal and written English

QUALIFICATIONS PREFERRED:

• Master’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, science, or equivalent
• Familiarity with Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
• 2+ years of experience managing engineers
• Written and verbal Japanese skills

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. Please contact us at staffingsupport@wdc.com 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.

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 Colorado or remote jobs that can be performed in Colorado.  This range may be modified in the future.
• You will also be eligible to participate in Western Digital's Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan and to receive equity awards under our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs), pursuant to the terms of these programs.  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 Virgin Pulse Program; 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 Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.

#LI-TD1