Principal Software Engineer - Archive Object, S3 & Key-Value Systems

Western Digital•Irvine, CA

6h•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a seasoned Software Engineer (Principal Engineer Level) to help build and evolve enterprise-grade storage platforms used by mission-critical workloads. This role focuses on Archive Object storage, S3-compatible services, and distributed Key-Value stores, with strong emphasis on reliability, durability, scalability, and long-term maintainability. You will work on core storage services that must meet enterprise expectations for performance, compliance, and operational stability.

Requirements

Extensive software engineering development experience - Must have in order to qualify for position
Strong background in enterprise or infrastructure software- Must have in order to qualify for position
Hands-on experience with object storage, S3-compatible systems, archival storage, or KV stores- Must have in order to qualify for position
Solid understanding of distributed systems (replication, consensus, failure handling)
Experience building highly reliable, fault-tolerant services
Strong debugging, performance tuning, and code review skills
Proficiency in Java, Go, C++, Rust, or Python
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

Nice To Haves

Experience with enterprise storage platforms or large-scale data infrastructure
Familiarity with S3 internals, lifecycle management, tiering, and retention policies
Knowledge of erasure coding, encryption, compression, or data protection schemes
Experience with RocksDB, LevelDB, or similar KV engines
Understanding of enterprise requirements such as security, compliance, and data governance
Experience supporting long-lived systems in production environments

Responsibilities

Design, implement, and maintain enterprise-class object and archival storage systems
Develop and enhance S3-compatible APIs and data paths
Build and optimize distributed key-value storage services for metadata and control planes
Ensure high durability, availability, and consistency across storage layers
Participate in architectural reviews and long-term platform planning
Debug and resolve complex issues in production distributed systems
Collaborate with QA, SRE, and operations teams to ensure production readiness
Mentor engineers and contribute to engineering best practices

Benefits

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
the WD Savings 401(k) Plan