Senior Manager, Servo Firmware Engineering

Western Digital • San Jose, CA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

WD is seeking a Senior Manager to lead its US HDD servo firmware development team in San Jose or Irvine, California. The role is responsible for the strategic vision and execution of servo subsystem firmware architecture for next-generation HDD products supporting multiple concurrent data streams and multi-actuator control. The position defines a scalable platform strategy that balances technical feasibility with economic viability, program schedules, power envelopes, and cost constraints.

The Senior Manager leads firmware and associated tooling development, coordinates cross-functional and geographically distributed teams, and guides hardware, firmware, and tools design decisions. The role oversees servo compute resource budgeting and real-time firmware architecture, supports coordination of SoC microarchitecture choices, and drives deterministic performance and cross-generation stability. It also delivers multi-stream and multi-actuator capabilities that meet control performance and power targets, while communicating architectural guidance and strategic recommendations throughout product development.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, or an equivalent degree and professional experience.
• At least 10 years of professional experience in embedded architecture and development, specifically in real-time control, storage technology, or related servo control applications.
• At least 5 years of experience in senior technical leadership roles, with demonstrated leadership and a consistent commitment to delivering results.
• Proficiency in digital signal processing and real-time systems development.
• Demonstrated experience with FPGA and/or ASIC design for embedded applications.
• Proficiency in C/C++ programming, including compiler toolchain awareness.
• Familiarity with MATLAB, Simulink, and modeling and simulation tools such as Renode.
• Solid understanding of hardware-software co-design and system-level integration.
• Ability to lead cross-functional engineering teams across geographically distributed locations and manage complex technical projects.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and meticulous attention to detail.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and collaboration skills, including presentation abilities and the ability to work effectively in English across worldwide engineering teams.
• Experience with the product development lifecycle and design-for-manufacturability principles.
• Familiarity with industry standards and best practices in storage technology.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree or relevant professional certification, such as in embedded systems or real-time architecture.
• PhD or specialist certification with demonstrated expertise in real-time, multi-core computing platform architecture.
• Proficiency in servo control theory, including loop design, stability analysis, and performance optimization.

Responsibilities

• Lead the US HDD servo firmware development team and define the strategic vision and execution of servo subsystem firmware architecture.
• Collaborate with SoC architecture, recording systems, manufacturing, and other stakeholders to define and implement HDD servo firmware, including real-time motion control, parameter management, microarchitecture, instruction set architecture, and toolchains.
• Facilitate and participate in team meetings, lead firmware and tooling development, and maintain clear communication across a geographically distributed international development team.
• Define hardware, firmware, and associated tools designs with stakeholders and development teams.
• Negotiate priorities with stakeholders and ensure execution of the hardware, firmware, and tools strategy.
• Define and maintain a future-state servo real-time control firmware architecture that scales from single to multiple concurrent data streams and supports control of multiple actuators and heads.
• Coordinate SoC microarchitecture decisions affecting servo compute, including core count, memory hierarchy, interconnect design, and dynamic control accelerators.
• Ensure FPGA prototype work and accelerator designs map into production-ready firmware and tools models.
• Own servo compute resource management and budgeting, including instruction and data memory allocation, processor cycle limits, and regression thresholds; drive adherence through continuous integration practices.
• Lead co-design of firmware platform architecture, including core control-loop implementations, multi-cluster and multi-actuator orchestration, and cross-generation stability, while ensuring deterministic real-time performance across SoC generations.
• Drive evolution of the servo firmware tools ecosystem to support multi-cluster and multi-stream characterization and debugging.
• Coordinate geographically distributed teams across servo firmware, SoC architecture and design, recording subsystem and algorithms, servo tools, manufacturing firmware, and test to align platform decisions with program risk, schedules, yield, and customer experience objectives.
• Deliver major multi-stream and multi-actuator capabilities that meet control performance and power targets on new SoC generations.
• Communicate technical concepts, architectural trade-offs, and strategic recommendations to senior management and cross-functional stakeholders, providing architectural guidance throughout the product development lifecycle.

Benefits

• Paid vacation time
• Paid sick leave
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Accident insurance
• Disability insurance
• Tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts
• Employee assistance program
• Voluntary supplemental life and AD&D coverage
• Legal plan
• Pet insurance
• Critical illness coverage
• Accident and hospital indemnity coverage
• Tuition reimbursement
• Transit benefits
• Applause Program
• Employee stock purchase plan
• WD Savings 401(k) Plan
• Potential eligibility for bonuses under the Short Term Incentive Plan or Sales Incentive Plan
• Potential eligibility for the annual Long-Term Incentive program, consisting of restricted stock units or cash equivalents
• Restricted stock unit awards for eligible new hires

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior