Drive Teardown Failure Analysis Engineer

WD is seeking a Drive Teardown Failure Analysis Engineer to join the Hyperscale HDD Development Team. This hands-on role helps identify causes of HAMR and ePMR HDD failures through physical teardown lab-based inspection documentation and collaboration with reliability and product development teams. You will learn how physical evidence electrical failure analysis and advanced characterization methods combine to improve product quality and reliability.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Perform hands-on HDD teardown during the product development phase in a Class 100 clean room environment.
• Review electrical failure analysis results and help determine the next course of investigation.
• Collect interpret and document possible failure causes and recommended next steps for additional FA characterization or analysis.
• Document findings in the FA database system and prepare clear failure analysis reports and conclusions for program teams.
• Partner with functional teams to prevent recurrence of similar issues and improve product reliability.
• Build proficiency in lab procedures sample handling technical documentation and failure analysis workflows.

This role is part of WDs early career development program. WDs early career development program is ideal for individuals at the early stages of their professional career.  Participants receive foundational training through structured onboarding mentorship and a curated development curriculum. The responsibilities of this role are typically aligned with candidates who have approximately 02 years of relevant professional experience though candidates of all experience levels are encouraged to apply.

Qualifications :

Required Qualifications

• Recently completed a BS degree in Material Science Mechanical Engineering Chemistry Physics Engineering Biology or a related science or engineering field.
• Right to work in the US without requiring WD to commence or sponsor an immigration case to employ you now or at any point in the future. 
• Academic internship project-based or research lab experience in a science or engineering environment.
• Strong organization problem-solving communication teamwork and documentation skills.
• Comfort working in a hands-on technical environment and learning clean room and lab procedures.
• Attention to detail and willingness to learn HDD teardown and failure analysis methods.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to optical microscopy SEM AFM Raman ToF-SIMS materials characterization sample preparation clean room work manufacturing processes or reliability testing.
• Interest in HDD semiconductor storage failure analysis materials science product reliability or physical root-cause investigation.
• Experience documenting lab findings and communicating technical conclusions to a broader team.

Additional Information :

WD 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.

WD 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.

WD 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 10/8/26 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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Compensation & Benefits Details

• An employees pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills ability knowledge of the job; (3) performance contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
• The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting.  We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California Colorado New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California Colorado and New York.  This range may be modified in the future.
• If your position is non-exempt you are eligible for overtime pay pursuant to company policy and applicable laws.  You may also be eligible for shift differential pay depending on the shift to which you are assigned.

• You will be eligible to be considered for bonuses under either WDs Short Term Incentive Plan (STI Plan) or the Sales Incentive Plan (SIP) which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance depending on your role and your performance. You may 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. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires subject to WDs Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit 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 WD Savings 401(k) Plan.
• Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned vested and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus commission benefits or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Companys sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Companys sole discretion consistent with the law.

Notice To Candidates: Please be aware that WD 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 WD Ethics Helpline or email .

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time