Summer 2026 Co-Op - Software Engineer

Western Digital • Rochester, MN

13h

About The Position

At Western Digital, our vision is to power global innovation and push the boundaries of technology to make what you thought was once impossible, possible. At our core, Western Digital is a company of problem solvers. People achieve extraordinary things given the right technology. For decades, we’ve been doing just that—our technology helped people put a man on the moon and capture the first-ever picture of a black hole. We offer an expansive portfolio of technologies, HDDs, and platforms for business, creative professionals, and consumers alike under our Western Digital®, WD®, and WD_BLACK™. We are a key partner to some of the largest and highest-growth organizations in the world. From enabling systems to make cities safer and more connected, to powering the data centers behind many of the world’s biggest companies and hyperscale cloud providers, to meeting the massive and ever-growing data storage needs of the AI era, Western Digital is fueling a brighter, smarter future. Today’s exceptional challenges require your unique skills. Together, we can build the future of data storage. Essential Duties & Responsibilities: Support and maintain a hardware abstraction layer and special purpose engineering commands related to channel hardware applications Firmware integration of vendor channels to optimize HDD read/write performance and other necessary magnetic recording functions Develop validation scripts to be applied as developer and debug tools Create test scripts to be deployed within a Continuous Integration environment Follow Agile methodologies and have a willingness to become a contributing member of a scrum team that supports Enterprise level HDDs Plan, perform, summarize, and present findings with respect to channel verification, channel operations, technical experiments, and failure analysis results Be a reference for basic read/write channel functionality and applications Work in concert with suppliers’ technical support teams and WDC internal product teams Provide problem solving, algorithm design, risk mitigation, and complexity analysis to support the channel applications within drive firmware Work with internal product development teams and external suppliers to provide firmware and test script abstractions of the channel hardware into HDDs on various platforms Provide firmware and tools support to integrate new channel features, perform failure analysis, and evaluate performance for an advanced digital signal processing chip used for Hard Disk Drive (HDD) magnetic recording This position is part of our Early Career program at WD. Our Early Career program is designed to support individuals beginning their professional career by providing the foundational training through a structured onboarding, mentorship, and development curriculum.

Requirements

• Currently working towards degree in Electrical / Computer Engineering or Computer Science
• Proficiency with C/C++ and Python programming languages
• Basic knowledge of object-oriented programming
• Willingness to learn basic signal processing concepts and rapidly learn new technologies
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work well within a team
• Self-motivated with an aptitude for continuous improvement
• Persistence on problem/issue resolution

Nice To Haves

• Experience with embedded firmware and hardware / software applications
• Proficiency with TCL programming languages
• Strong knowledge of HDD functionality and applications
• Proficiency with oscilloscopes and their applications
• Strong statistical analysis skills

Responsibilities

• Support and maintain a hardware abstraction layer and special purpose engineering commands related to channel hardware applications
• Firmware integration of vendor channels to optimize HDD read/write performance and other necessary magnetic recording functions
• Develop validation scripts to be applied as developer and debug tools
• Create test scripts to be deployed within a Continuous Integration environment
• Follow Agile methodologies and have a willingness to become a contributing member of a scrum team that supports Enterprise level HDDs
• Plan, perform, summarize, and present findings with respect to channel verification, channel operations, technical experiments, and failure analysis results
• Be a reference for basic read/write channel functionality and applications
• Work in concert with suppliers’ technical support teams and WDC internal product teams
• Provide problem solving, algorithm design, risk mitigation, and complexity analysis to support the channel applications within drive firmware
• Work with internal product development teams and external suppliers to provide firmware and test script abstractions of the channel hardware into HDDs on various platforms
• Provide firmware and tools support to integrate new channel features, perform failure analysis, and evaluate performance for an advanced digital signal processing chip used for Hard Disk Drive (HDD) magnetic recording

Benefits

• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including 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; and the Western Digital Savings 401(k) Plan.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern