Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) Optical Product Design Engineer - Staff

Seagate Technology•Bloomington, MN

1d•Onsite

About The Position

We are part of a HAMR development team to help develop, integrate, and productize key HAMR head technologies for next-generation hard drive products.About the role - you will: Analyze wafer/slider/HGA/drive level data of new design experiments and generate clear and actionable conclusions to guide the reliability and performance improvement of HAMR head optical design Track the experiments, defining/executing testing plans and follow up on failure analysis (FA) to ensure thorough understanding of the data and its implication Consistently interaction with technology leads, modeling engineers, process teams, reliability teams, and drive design center etc. as this is an essential part of this position Participate in new test development for physics understanding and testing efficiency improvement Generate and execute component reliability improvement plan to enable product launch Extract sound conclusions from both volume statistical data and small sample size engineering testing results is also a critical quality for this position Managing cross functional projects to solve high level device problems Define system‑level optical performance requirements and lead optical architecture decisions across AP stacks, laser diodes, thermal‑optical configurations, and writer‑light path interactions Serve as the primary technical authority for laser behavior, kink/reliability fail mode signatures, wavelength stability, modal control, reflection/NFT interactions, and thermal‑optical coupling Drive experiments to reduce DPPM through laser design improvements, robustness enhancements, and upstream optical‑path optimizations About you: Demonstrated experience preparing, presenting and defending data and conclusions, as well as excellent communication skills Must have demonstrated capacity to learn quickly and sense of ownership, with strong preference given to direct experience in magnetic recording physics area Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical investigations and cross-functional initiatives Able to work independently and contribute as a team member The position will require regular verbal and written reporting on progress to all levels of management Small amount (< 4 weeks/year) of domestic or international travel may be required for this position Your experience includes: Direct experience in optical or laser engineering, preferably in semiconductor laser development, photonic devices, or recording technologies Design for six sigma, DOE, and statistical analysis tools such as JMP etc., is also useful. Knowledge of basic wafer processing, recording head electrical testing and electrical signal processing is a strong plus. Background in high-volume manufacturing environments with strong understanding of yield/dppm drivers. Defining and deploying new test methodologies or scaling reliability test capacity. Bachelor's Degree in Optics, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Materials, Photonics and 8+ years of experience, or Master’s degree in the same and 6+ years of experience, or PhD and 3+ years of experience or equivalent education and experience.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience preparing, presenting and defending data and conclusions, as well as excellent communication skills
Must have demonstrated capacity to learn quickly and sense of ownership, with strong preference given to direct experience in magnetic recording physics area
Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical investigations and cross-functional initiatives
Able to work independently and contribute as a team member
The position will require regular verbal and written reporting on progress to all levels of management
Small amount (< 4 weeks/year) of domestic or international travel may be required for this position
Direct experience in optical or laser engineering, preferably in semiconductor laser development, photonic devices, or recording technologies
Design for six sigma, DOE, and statistical analysis tools such as JMP etc., is also useful.
Knowledge of basic wafer processing, recording head electrical testing and electrical signal processing is a strong plus.
Background in high-volume manufacturing environments with strong understanding of yield/dppm drivers.
Defining and deploying new test methodologies or scaling reliability test capacity.
Bachelor's Degree in Optics, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Materials, Photonics and 8+ years of experience, or Master’s degree in the same and 6+ years of experience, or PhD and 3+ years of experience or equivalent education and experience.

Nice To Haves

Excellent reliability background is a plus

Responsibilities

Analyze wafer/slider/HGA/drive level data of new design experiments and generate clear and actionable conclusions to guide the reliability and performance improvement of HAMR head optical design
Track the experiments, defining/executing testing plans and follow up on failure analysis (FA) to ensure thorough understanding of the data and its implication
Consistently interaction with technology leads, modeling engineers, process teams, reliability teams, and drive design center etc. as this is an essential part of this position
Participate in new test development for physics understanding and testing efficiency improvement
Generate and execute component reliability improvement plan to enable product launch
Extract sound conclusions from both volume statistical data and small sample size engineering testing results is also a critical quality for this position
Managing cross functional projects to solve high level device problems
Define system‑level optical performance requirements and lead optical architecture decisions across AP stacks, laser diodes, thermal‑optical configurations, and writer‑light path interactions
Serve as the primary technical authority for laser behavior, kink/reliability fail mode signatures, wavelength stability, modal control, reflection/NFT interactions, and thermal‑optical coupling
Drive experiments to reduce DPPM through laser design improvements, robustness enhancements, and upstream optical‑path optimizations