Applications Engineer (Qual Product)

Company Description 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, weu2019ve been doing just thatu2014our 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 Digitalu00ae, WDu00ae, WD_BLACKu2122, and SanDisku00ae Professional brands. 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 worldu2019s 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. Todayu2019s exceptional challenges require your unique skills. Together, we can build the future of data storage. Job Description ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: AE, Applications Engineer in HDD works as the focal point of contact for OEM customers in Surveillance, Connected Home and NAS applications as well as for WDC internal Engineering and Marketing teams to manage qualification plans and drive actions to align Product specification and designs with Customer's requirements. AE is responsible to track all technical and design requirements from OEM customer, and ensure those are reviewed by the relevant team and incorporated into product design in timely manner, which occasionally requires in-depth discussion and negotiation with Customer and/or Engineer team. Coordination of such discussions is owned by AE as well. AE manages all qualification activities, starting from specification alignment, qualification sample forecasting and tracking of them, open issue tracking (FA and Engineering discussion) and drives actions to closures. Leading discussions with FE (Field Engineer) for OEM customer product design and requirements is another key role for AE, which requires relationship building with key customer stakeholders. AE is accountable to deliver all qualification deliverables including but not limited to Qual reports, any product information required by Customer, FA report during qualification if there are any issues. AE will have BOM management, factory process, technical reference manual as well as customer label release responsibility. Before a new product qualification cycle starts, AE starts to work with relevant internal and external teams to prepare such deliverables ahead of time. Qualifications REQUIRED: + BS or above in Engineering field is required. + Storage device background is must. + HDD product experience preferred and Flash is a bonus + Engineering educational background is strongly desired. + Minimum 2 years of customer interaction experience is required. + Flexible work hours required to work with teams in multi time zones u2013 world-wide + Result-oriented mindset to drive actions is must. + Multi-tasking capability is required to drive actions in timely manner. + Willingness to learn new things, adaptability to new environment are must. + Need to be fluent in English for casual and business conversations, Mandarin as well as other languages is a strong plus + This job is to be based out of Irvine preferred, Pacific Std Time option and minimal within the US with working hours for pst. Additional Information Western Digital is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a personu2019s gender identity, gender expression, and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the personu2019s assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. We also prohibit harassment of any individual on any of the characteristics listed above. Our non-discrimination policy applies to all aspects of employment. We comply with the laws and regulations set forth in the

Created: 2026-01-26