Senior Director, Core & Ecosystem Strategy

Western Digital•San Jose, CA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Western Digital is entering a new chapter as an independent deep-tech company, focusing on technological frontiers in areas like magnetics, photonics, nanofabrication, and machine learning. The Strategy & Corporate Development team acts as a bridge between the company's technology and the markets it serves, aiming to translate deep-tech capabilities into commercial impact. This involves strengthening the core HDD business, setting long-term strategy, and executing partnerships, investments, and acquisitions. The company is seeking individuals who want to work on significant problems at the intersection of deep technology, business strategy, and real-world impact.

Requirements

Minimum 8–10 years of progressive experience spanning top-tier management consulting or in-house corporate strategy and GTM/commercial leadership roles.
Required industry experience within a GTM, commercial, sales strategy, or related role at a data storage company (HDD, SSD, storage systems) or directly adjacent infrastructure company (semiconductors, memory, enterprise storage platforms).
Deep domain experience in data storage, semiconductors, enterprise/cloud infrastructure, or broader AI infrastructure with fluency in technical and commercial dynamics.
Proven track record running complex strategic projects end-to-end, from hypothesis development through to analysis and recommendation, with output quality suitable for senior leadership / C-suite.
Comfort operating with quantitative rigor in ambiguous, high stakes strategic decisions.
Strong financial acumen with the ability to evaluate business models and market economics.
Exceptional strategic thinking and structured problem-solving skills.
Outstanding executive communication, including materials development, narrative crafting, and live presentation to senior leadership (C-suite and Board).
Proven ability to drive alignment and influence senior stakeholders.
MBA or equivalent experience required.
Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Economics, or a related analytical field.

Responsibilities

Define sales and commercial strategy for Western Digital’s core HDD business in partnership with the commercial leadership team to support long-term value capture.
Support broader portfolio of strategic projects that support Western Digital core business overall, potentially including ecosystem activation, technology assessment, vertical integration strategy, international opportunities, and supply chain optimization.
Build Western Digital's ecosystem strategy across hyperscalers, neoclouds, sovereign clouds, OEMs, system integrators, and cloud infrastructure software vendors.
Develop frameworks for how WD orchestrates its role in the broader storage ecosystem, considering where to lead, partner, or enable to maximize value capture.
Evaluate strategic partnership opportunities with cloud providers, OEMs, system integrators, and ecosystem players.
Develop deal structuring frameworks and partner models.
Execute high-priority strategic projects end-to-end, including go-to-market strategy, customer and partner frameworks, business model evaluation, and build-vs-buy-vs-partner assessments.
Translate long-term strategic priorities into actionable decisions and recommendations for the Executive Leadership Team.
Partner closely with GTM and commercial leadership to co-develop strategies that reflect real customer needs and market dynamics.
Ensure strategic recommendations translate into commercial action.
Collaborate across Product, Engineering, Commercial, Finance, and Legal teams to align strategy with execution and drive cross-functional alignment on high-stakes strategic questions.
Deliver strategic briefings, deep dives, and recommendations on competitive dynamics, market trends, and long-term positioning for senior leadership.
Present to C-suite and Board audiences with rigor, clarity, and strategic conviction.
Serve as a trusted strategic thought partner to senior business leaders.

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
WD Savings 401(k) Plan
Eligibility for bonuses under WD’s Short Term Incentive Plan (“STI Plan”) or the Sales Incentive Plan (“SIP”)
Potential eligibility for annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program (restricted stock units or cash equivalents)