Software Development Engineer (Firmware)

Western Digital • Irvine, CA

4d • $98,000 - $130,700 • Onsite

About The Position

This role is part of WD's early career development program, ideal for individuals at the early stages of their professional career. Participants receive foundational training through structured onboarding, mentorship, and a curated development curriculum. You'll design and ship embedded firmware that powers enterprise storage products—writing C/C++ code that directly impacts how data centers and cloud infrastructure perform. Join our structured Early Career program where you'll learn our stack, deliver real features, and work alongside experienced firmware engineers.

Requirements

• Right to work in the US without requiring Western Digital to commence or sponsor an immigration case in order to employ you now or at any point in the future.
• Currently pursuing or recently completed an MS degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience
• Embedded systems fundamentals – understand how software interacts with hardware
• C++ coding experience – comfortable writing, debugging, and testing code
• Python familiarity – can write scripts or willing to learn
• Curiosity – you ask "why" and dig into how things work
• Tenacity – you don't give up when code breaks or bugs hide
• Motivation – you want to learn fast and deliver real impact

Nice To Haves

• If terms like ARM, microcontroller, Raspberry Pi, or Arduino excite you—not intimidate you—you're ready for this role.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement embedded system components using best-practice development methodologies
• Validate and maintain firmware – write tests, debug issues, ensure code quality before customer delivery
• Triage and resolve issues – perform first-level investigation on host and performance problems
• Collaborate with core firmware engineers – integrate code, participate in reviews, learn the full product lifecycle
• Own your assignments – after training, independently deliver tasks that ship to customers

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
• 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

What This Job Offers

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