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Vice President, Platform Engineering

Posted 2 days ago

western digitalSan Jose (CA)

SENIORITY

Manager

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About the role

Vice President, Platform Engineering The VP of Engineering for Platforms will lead the engineering organization responsible for designing, developing, and scaling next-generation, high-density hardware storage architectures. This role owns the execution of the storage platform roadmap—spanning ultra-dense JBODs and storage servers. You will manage a cross-functional department of hardware, firmware, and manufacturing operations engineers to deliver reliable, highly serviceable, and cost-efficient hardware storage solutions optimized for hyperscale datacenters and modern AI workloads.
Core Responsibilities: Strategic Execution: Drive the development lifecycles of next-generation high-capacity storage enclosures from initial concept through architecture, board bring-up, validation, and global high-volume manufacturing. Engineering Leadership: Build, manage, and mentor a high-performance team of engineering directors, managers, and principal architects across electrical, mechanical, firmware, and operations domains. Manufacturing Operations & CM Governance: Oversee the manufacturing engineering and operations teams responsible for transitioning designs from the lab to the factory floor. Own product delivery through Contract Manufacturing (CM) execution, ensuring seamless handoffs, yields, and quality controls and acting as the executive escalation point. NPI & Mass Production Lifecycle: Drive early-stage prototype NPI (New Product Introduction) builds, factory bring-up, and engineering validation tests (EVT/DVT/PVT), while establishing the processes required to scale smoothly into high-volume mass production. Vendor & Supply Chain Management: Lead technical engagements and design reviews with silicon suppliers, component vendors, and CM partners to enforce Design for Manufacturability (DFM), assembly (DFA), and cost-reduction targets. Operational Excellence: Oversee the departmental budget, capital allocation for lab instrumentation, headcount planning, factory tooling costs, and organizational risk mitigation strategies. Customer knowledge: Demonstrate deep understanding of customers and their data center ecosystems to inform technical product development.
Technical & Operations Domain Expertise: High-Speed Bus Interfaces: Directional oversight on complex multi-layer PCB design incorporating cutting-edge signaling interfaces like PCIe Gen 6/7, SAS (12G/24G), SATA, and high-speed SERDES.Chassis & Power Engineering: Ensuring physical architectures successfully balance high disk/flash densities with strict thermal dynamics, airflow constraints, and robust Power Distribution Networks (PDN).Industrial & Manufacturing Scaling: Deep understanding of manufacturing test development, structural test metrics, assembly line optimization, and scaling supply chain logistics for complex electromechanical assemblies.
Qualifications
Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering, or a highly related technical field.
Experience: 15+ years of hands-on engineering experience, including 8+ years in multi-layered senior management roles, leading teams of 50+ employees, geographically spread in US and Asia, directly handling enterprise hardware platforms and NPI-to-mass-production lifecycles. Proven track record of delivering programs on-time and successful ramp into high volume production 8+ years of experience working directly with tier-1 & tier-2 enterprise customers. Customer interface to understand requirements, propose solutions and architecture, and establish long-term engineering/exec-level relationships. CM & Vendor Management: Proven track record of managing tier-1 global Contract Manufacturers (CMs) or Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) to deliver hardware at hyperscale volumes. Communications: Outstanding executive communication skills with a proven capability to articulate complex technical trade-offs (e.g., design tolerance vs. manufacturing yield vs. BOM cost) directly to board-level stakeholders. Track record of transforming engineering organizations through stronger methodology, platform reuse, schedule predictability, and improved first-pass execution. Experience operating in a global company environment with distributed teams across the Americas, Asia, and EMEA.

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