Senior Director, Business Development

Western Digital•San Jose, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

We are looking for a seasoned Senior Director of Business Development to lead our growth strategy in the AI and data infrastructure space. This is a high-visibility, strategic role that sits at the intersection of technology and commerce, responsible for identifying, developing, and closing new business opportunities while shaping the company's long-term market positioning in one of the fastest-evolving sectors in technology. Key Responsibilities As Senior Director, you will own the end-to-end business development motion for AI-driven markets. You will develop and execute go-to-market strategies targeting hyperscale’s, cloud providers, AI infrastructure companies, and enterprise customers building out large-scale storage and compute environments. You will stay ahead of market trends from the growth of AI training clusters and inference workloads to evolving data center architectures and translate those insights into actionable customer acquisition strategies. You will work closely with product, engineering, and marketing teams to ensure our HDD roadmap and value proposition are aligned with where the market is heading. You will champion the voice of the customer internally, helping shape product direction based on what top-tier prospects and partners need. A core part of this role is building and maintaining executive-level relationships with key accounts and ecosystem partners. Internally, you will set alignment across the Sales and Marketing organization on customer segmentation, market prioritization, and messaging, ensuring the team is rowing in the same direction as the industry evolves. What We’re Looking For The ideal candidate brings a rare combination of technical depth and commercial acumen. You should have a strong grasp of storage and data infrastructure, including HDD technology, system architecture, and how storage fits into broader AI and cloud computing stacks. You understand how hyperscalers and AI companies think about capacity planning, TCO, and infrastructure scaling, and you can speak fluently with both engineers and C-suite executives. On the business side, you have a proven track record of building and executing BD strategies that have resulted in meaningful revenue growth. You know how to build pipeline from scratch, navigate long enterprise sales cycles, and close complex deals. You are comfortable operating with ambiguity and thrive in fast-moving markets.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in business development, strategic sales, or market strategy roles within the storage, semiconductor, cloud infrastructure, or AI hardware space.
A bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or a related technical field is preferred, with an MBA or equivalent business experience considered a strong plus.
Direct experience working with hyperscalers, AI infrastructure companies, or large enterprise data center customers is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end business development motion for AI-driven markets.
Develop and execute go-to-market strategies targeting hyperscale’s, cloud providers, AI infrastructure companies, and enterprise customers building out large-scale storage and compute environments.
Stay ahead of market trends from the growth of AI training clusters and inference workloads to evolving data center architectures and translate those insights into actionable customer acquisition strategies.
Work closely with product, engineering, and marketing teams to ensure our HDD roadmap and value proposition are aligned with where the market is heading.
Champion the voice of the customer internally, helping shape product direction based on what top-tier prospects and partners need.
Build and maintain executive-level relationships with key accounts and ecosystem partners.
Set alignment across the Sales and Marketing organization on customer segmentation, market prioritization, and messaging, ensuring the team is rowing in the same direction as the industry evolves.

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