Principal Engineer, Firmware Verification Engineering

Company Description

At Western Digital, we are on a mission to unlock the potential of data so people, companies and organizations everywhere can create what’s next. To fulfill our vision, we are always on the lookout for potential team members who share our passion for solving problems to empower others.

When you join Western Digital, you join a legacy more than 50 years in the making. Across our Western Digital, SanDisk, SanDisk Professional, WD and WD_BLACK brands, we have brought some of the most storied advancements in memory and data storage technology to market—and our best, most innovative work is yet to come.

From energizing gaming platforms, to enabling systems to make cities safer and cars smarter and more connected, to powering the data centers behind many of the world’s biggest companies and public cloud, Western Digital is fueling a brighter, smarter future.

Here’s how you can help.

As Principal Firmware Verification Engineer, you will be part of the firmware verification team that designs and develops white box and grey box tests in Python to verify SSD firmware designs for each firmware feature.

This position specifically focuses on the verification and validation of SSD firmware security features. You will be working closely with product security architects and firmware engineers to create a comprehensive firmware verification test for SSD security features. In this role, you will be contributing to test strategy, test development, integrating the tests using various development platforms, deploying it in the firmware verification lab for regression runs, and performing failure analysis.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Collaborate closely with firmware engineers & architects on product architecture and designs to define the comprehensive verification plan to validate each SSD security feature.
• Design, develop, and integrate the white box and grey box tests on SSD products in the roadmap.
• Conduct test plan reviews and code reviews to ensure the tests are scalable and meet the requirements.
• Participate in driving failure analysis and collaborate with integration/execution engineers for test deployment.
• Work with firmware engineers to understand logs/events to triage and debug test failures.

REQUIRED:

• BS/MS degree in Computer Science or related field.
• BS + 7 years or MS + 6 years of related experience in storage, semiconductor, or non-volatile memory development.
• Passion for storage technology and secure product development.
• Demonstrated experience in product security engineering with a focus on validation of product security algorithms and feature sets.
  • Proficiency in security protocols or specifications such as TCG Opal/Ruby/Pyrite, IEEE1667, SPDM, etc.
  • Proficiency in applied cryptography and security, including knowledge of secure boot, device attestation, and user data encryption.

SKILLS:

• Strong architectural review skills with the ability to provide guidance and review test development efforts and test coverage.
• Comprehensive understanding of embedded software fundamentals and storage fundamentals with knowledge of NVMe/PCIe specifications.
• Knowledge of Git, CI & source code management flow, and agile development practices.
• Strong programming skills with experience in Python, C, or C++ programming.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication 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 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.

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 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 jobs.accommodations@wdc.com 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 01/08/2025 (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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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.
• 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.
• You will be eligible to participate in Western Digital’s Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan, 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 Western Digital’s 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 Western Digital 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 company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.