Software Engineer, Validation Automation (Early Career)

Job Description

About Western Digital

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, we are a company of problem solvers. Our technology has helped achieve extraordinary feats, from putting a man on the moon to capturing 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™ brands. We are a key partner to some of the largest and highest-growth organizations in the world, enabling systems for safer cities, powering data centers behind global companies and hyperscale cloud providers, and meeting the massive 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.

The Opportunity: Software Engineer, Validation Automation (Early Career)

Every hard drive we ship undergoes rigorous validation. The efficiency and sophistication of the tools behind that validation directly impact our pace of innovation and reliability of delivery. In this role, you will be instrumental in building the automation and internal applications that empower engineers to test, validate, and continuously improve our products. Your code will have a direct and tangible impact, supporting product quality and enhancing engineering efficiency across the organization.

What You’ll Do

• Automate Validation Testing: Develop Python/MATLAB scripts to replace manual workflows, significantly speeding up product testing cycles.
• Build Internal Engineering Tools: Design and develop web-based applications that will be used daily by validation and product teams.
• Collaborate with Validation Engineers: Translate complex engineering workflows into robust code that saves time and reduces errors.
• Improve Lab Efficiency: Proactively identify repetitive tasks and build innovative tooling solutions to eliminate them.
• Contribute to Full-Stack Development: Engage in development across both backend automation and frontend user interfaces.
• Support CI/CD Pipelines: Assist in integrating automated tests into continuous deployment workflows to streamline releases.
• Work with Storage Protocols: Interact directly with SATA-based testing environments and validation systems.
• Participate in Technical Reviews: Share ideas, contribute to process improvements, and learn from cross-functional teams.

This position is proudly part of our Early Career program at Western Digital. Our Early Career program is specifically designed to support individuals beginning their professional journey by providing foundational training through structured onboarding, dedicated mentorship, and a comprehensive development curriculum.

Qualifications

We are looking for motivated individuals with the following qualifications:

• Currently pursuing or recently completed a BS/MS degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or an equivalent field.
• Right to work in the US without requiring Western Digital to commence or sponsor an immigration case in order to employ you at any point in the future is required.
• C/C++ Programming Experience: Comfortable writing, debugging, and optimizing code in C/C++.
• Scripting Experience: Proficient with Python, MATLAB, Bash, or similar scripting languages.
• Web Application Development: Demonstrated experience building a web application (e.g., a school project, hackathon entry, or internship work).
• Software Development Fundamentals: Solid understanding of version control, debugging techniques, and principles of writing clean, maintainable code.
• Problem-Solving Mindset: You naturally identify manual processes and are driven to find “a better way” through automation.
• Strong Communication Skills: Ability to clearly explain technical decisions and effectively collaborate across diverse teams.

Bonus Experience (Not Required, but a plus!)

• Familiarity with test automation frameworks or CI/CD tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions).
• Experience with hardware testing, validation environments, or storage protocols (e.g., SATA/SAS).
• Prior full-stack development experience (both frontend and backend).
• Proficiency in using MATLAB for data analysis or test automation.
• Previous internship experience in software or systems engineering roles.

Additional Information

Western Digital is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate based on legally protected characteristics. We also prohibit harassment of any individual on any of the listed characteristics. Our non-discrimination policy applies to all aspects of employment.

We thrive on the power and potential of diversity, believing that the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, company, customers, and the world. 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 hiring process. Please contact us at jobs.accommodations@wdc.com to advise us of your accommodation request, including a description of the specific accommodation and the job title/requisition number.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be 04/15/2026, although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline. If we are not able to hire someone from this role before the application deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated application deadline.

Compensation & Benefits Details

An employee’s pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors, including but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, ability, knowledge of the job, performance, contribution and results, geographic location, shift, internal and external equity, and business and organizational needs. The salary range provided is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting, and it may be modified in the future. This range is applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York, or remote jobs that can be performed in these states.

You may be eligible for overtime pay (if non-exempt) and shift differential pay depending on your assignment. You will be eligible to be considered for bonuses under either Western Digital’s Short Term Incentive Plan (“STI Plan”) or the Sales Incentive Plan (“SIP”) based on Company and individual performance. You may also be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Note that not all roles are eligible for the LTI program or equity awards.

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.

Notice To Candidates: Please be aware that Western Digital and its subsidiaries will never request payment as a condition for applying for a position or receiving an offer of employment. Should you encounter any such requests, please report it immediately to Western Digital Ethics Helpline or email compliance@wdc.com.