Principal Engineer - Reader Development Test and Characterization

Principal Engineer - Reader Development Test and Characterization

• Full-time
• Job Type (exemption status): Exempt position
• Salary Range: 117,300.00-166,200.00
• Business Function: Hardware Development Engineering

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.

Western Digital is seeking a test and device characterization engineer to join our Advanced Reader Development engineering team in San Jose, CA. The successful candidate will be part of a growing team developing Western Digital’s next generation of readback sensors for hard disk applications.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Collect, process, analyze electrical data from spintronic sensors
• Responsible for wafer and device level testing of spintronic sensors – including day-to-day lab and data management
• Work closely with design and modeling groups to predict and explain results
• Bring up new laboratory for device-level magnetic testing: Specifying laboratory test equipment and writing test/analysis code
• Working with integration engineers to conduct failure analysis utilizing data from materials analysis as well as electrical test
• Keep up-to-date on recent advances in spintronics, magnetic materials and devices; identify new technologies and advances in physics that would benefit WD's read head development

Required:

• MS+ 4 years of experience with a degree in Physics, Materials Science, Electrical Engineering or related field.
• Prior experience in device test and characterization in disk drives, magnetic memory, semiconductor, optoelectronics or solid-state physics
• Hands-on experience with test equipment: Lock-in amplifiers, current sources, wafer probers etc.
• Prior experience in test equipment integration and coding using Labview, LabWindows, Matlab or similar
• Demonstrated ability to summarize complex data in clear and concise reports

Preferred:

• Background in magnetic devices, spintronics or MRAM
• Device fabrication or process integration experience is a plus

Skills:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Data analysis skills to manipulate and analyze large data sets with tools such as JMP, R, Python or similar packages

Western Digital is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate based on their race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status, physical disability, mental disability, genetic information, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics.

Western Digital thrives on the power and potential of diversity. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution.

Western Digital is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at to advise us of your accommodation request.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be 1/1/2025, although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline.

Compensation & Benefits Details

• An employee’s pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, performance, geographic location, and business needs.
• The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting and may be modified in the future.
• You will be eligible to participate in Western Digital’s Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan, which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance.
• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; tuition reimbursement; and the Western Digital Savings 401(k) Plan.