Wafer Metrology Development Engineer

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, we’ve been doing just that—our 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 Digital®, WD®, and WD_BLACK™. 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 world’s 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. Today’s exceptional challenges require your unique skills. Together, we can build the future of data storage. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Provide technical leadership and hands‑on metrology support for magnetic recording wafer process development, with a focus on Optical, AFM, and Focused‑Ion‑Beam measurements for critical dimension (CD), profile, and topography characterization. Partner closely with magnetic recording head process R&D engineers to define, develop, and deploy advanced metrology solutions on state‑of‑the‑art measurement tools, and new measurement methodologies and algorithms using ML/AI tools. Lead metrology strategy for development programs while ensuring robust day‑to‑day measurement execution across multiple projects. Serve as a core technical contributor within the R&D metrology organization, driving best practices and knowledge transfer while working in close alignment with the manufacturing metrology team to ensure consistency from development through production. Qualifications Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. degree in Physics, Materials Science, or a related scientific discipline. Required experience: Relevant metrology experience with a Bachelor's degree, or Recent metrology experience with a Master's or Ph.D. degree. Deep technical expertise in at least one metrology domain (Optical, AFM, FIB), with working knowledge across all three areas required. Proven experience supporting and leading metrology efforts for R&D and/or manufacturing in a high‑technology environment. Strong data analysis skills using industry‑standard tools, and strong experience with programming or scripting languages. Knowledge and experience with using ML/AI tools for advanced data analysis and automation is a strong plus. Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively and influence across multidisciplinary engineering teams; proficiency in spoken and written English is required. Salary Ranges:140,300.00-187,000.00 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 person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gender‑related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s 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 View email address on click.appcast.io to advise us of your accommodation request. In 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 7/24/2026(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 Compensation & Benefits Details An employee’s 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. Thesalaryrange 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 Yorkor remote jobs that can #J-18808-Ljbffr SanDisk