Principal Cloud Storage Architect

Position Summary

The Cloud Storage Architect will serve as a key industry intelligence leader responsible for continuously gathering evaluating and translating the latest advancements in cloud and clustered storage architectures into actionable insights for Western Digitals test and validation teams. By monitoring how major cloud providers design deploy and operate largescale storage systemsincluding S3compatible object storage distributed clusters and hyperscale data durability modelsthe architect will help ensure HDD test strategies accurately reflect realworld customer environments. This role will actively share emerging cloudstorage trends workload behaviors and architectural patterns with System Test Automated Cluster Environment and HDD qualification teams enabling the creation of more representative robust and forwardlooking tests.

Key Responsibilities

• Continuously gather and evaluate current cloud and clustered storage industry practices including architectures deployment models workload behaviors durability methods and scaling patterns used by major cloud providers.
• Monitor and analyze hyperscaler storage trendssuch as S3 object storage evolution erasurecoding strategies zonedstorage adoption multitier storage models and distributed cluster topologiesto ensure internal teams stay aligned with realworld customer environments.
• Translate uptodate cloud storage insights into actionable guidance for System Test ACE and HDD qualification teams to develop more representative customercentric test methodologies.
• Identify gaps between existing HDD test flows and modern industry storage designs recommending new tests workloads cluster configurations or validation scenarios that better emulate cloudscale usage patterns.
• Collaborate with System Test teams to enhance HDD validation based on how cloud companies actually deploy drives manage fleets perform lifecycle operations and optimize storage performance and reliability.
• Work with the ACE team to design clusterlevel workloads and test architectures informed by current cloud storage engineering including S3 patterns object sizes concurrency and real customer traffic profiles.
• Act as the internal subject matter expert on cloud and distributed storage regularly sharing findings documentation trend analyses and architectural summaries with engineering validation and leadership groups.
• Evaluate emerging storage technologies and standards such as SMR ZNS objecttiering strategies or cloudnative filesystem trends and recommend their incorporation into future HDD testing.
• Advise HDD qualification teams on clouddriven reliability expectations informing improvements in stress testing durability tests longrun cluster experiments and fieldemulation workloads.
• Produce clear technical reports briefs and knowledgesharing materials summarizing evolving cloud storage behaviors helping all test teams stay current with industry direction.

Qualifications :

• Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science Computer Engineering or related fields.
• 8 years experience designing or operating distributed cloud storage systems.
• Fluency in cloud computing concepts architecture and technologies with hands-on experience in designing and implementing cloud solutions
• Expertise with object storage technologies (MinIO AWS S3 Azure Blob GCP Cloud Storage).
• Excellent communication and cross-team collaboration capabilities.
• Ability to translate complex cloud architecture concepts into actionable test improvements.
• Analytical data-driven mindset with strong problem-solving skills.

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 persons gender identity gender expression and gender-related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the persons 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 Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal poster. Our pay transparency policy is available here.

Western Digital thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees our company our customers and the world around us. 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 your email please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.

Based on our experience we anticipate that the application deadline will be 05/06/2026 (3 months from posting) 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.

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Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time