Staff DevOps Engineer

Western Digital•Roseville, CA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

WDC is a leading innovator in Enterprise Storage Networking. We are looking for a passionate and skilled DevOps Engineer with Linux Kernel and tools expertise to build end-to-end automation for firmware development and system validation. Create custom Linux kernel patches to enable feature development and also upstream kernel changes. Strong PCIe/NVMe protocol knowledge; comfortable with Ethernet and PCIe analyzers. Today’s exceptional challenges require your unique skills. Together, we can build the future of data storage.

Requirements

System level programming in C (and some assembly) with a strong track record of shipping low level code
Deep understanding of Linux OS internals: processes, scheduling, memory management (paging, MMU, slab/slub allocators), VFS, block subsystems, networking stack.
Direct experience modifying or upstreaming Linux kernel code, not just using kernel APIs.
Comfort with hardware–software boundaries: interrupts, DMA, device registers, firmware handoff, PCIe, IOMMU, ACPI/DT, boot sequence.
Automation experience in FW/system validation.
Expert Python; linux ; kernel modules; Bash; working C/C++ for FW hooks; PowerShell as needed.
PyTest/Robot Framework; hardware-in-the-loop experience.
CI/CD expertise (pipelines-as-code, artifacts, secrets, flaky test mgmt).
PCIe/NVMe, DMA/interrupts, RTOS; lab debug with logic/protocol analyzers.
Tool integration with Gerrit/Git, Jira, test mgmt, results DBs.
Proven log analysis and failure bucketing; strong communication/documentation.

Nice To Haves

Proficiency with Linux kernel build system, Kconfig, cross-compilation, git bisection, patch submission workflow.
Prior contributions to LKML or to a major subsystem tree.
Ability to follow kernel coding style, patch series etiquette, and review cycles.
Strong debugging skills: perf, ftrace, bpftrace, kgdb, crash dumps, static analysis.
Experience with CI for kernel builds and regression testing, especially with custom hardware.
CMake/Bazel; cross-compilers; artifact signing.
Data stack (SQLite/PostgreSQL, Pandas); Grafana/PowerBI dashboards.
Prior storage FW or networking ASIC validation experience.

Responsibilities

Design reusable Python/Bash libraries and CLIs for FW build/test/regressions.
Integrate Docker, Jenkins/GitLab CI/Azure DevOps, Gerrit/Git, Jira, test mgmt systems.
Create custom Linux Kernel patches and upstream
Enable FW developers with unit test harnesses, lint/format, emulation adapters.
Implement telemetry/ETL pipelines for coverage, reliability, and performance KPIs.
Collaborate across FW/HW/ASIC; document standards and 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