Senior Director, Corporate Development

Western Digital is entering a new chapter. Following our spin-off of SanDisk, we are stepping into our future as an independent deep-tech company, one built on decades of engineering breakthroughs and pointed squarely at the biggest technological frontiers of our time.

We are a company of physicists, materials scientists, AI researchers, and engineers. We work at the frontier of magnetics, photonics, nanofabrication, and machine learning - disciplines most people never encounter, solving problems most people don't know exist. Our teams hold one of the largest intellectual property banks in Silicon Valley, and our labs are staffed with hundreds of PhDs who've spent their careers pushing what's physically possible.

Most folks know us as a data storage company, powering data centers, hyperscale clouds, and AI systems that define the modern economy. HDD is the backbone of the AI economy and the most scalable, cost-efficient way to store the world's data - and we're building its future. But it's only part of the story. In the past, our technology has helped put a man on the moon and captured the first-ever picture of a black hole. The next generation of what we are building will shape robotics, quantum computing, space systems, personalized medicine, autonomous vehicles, and more. We are entering the most ambitious phase of our company's history. As AI reshapes every industry and every workload, the world needs more data infrastructure, better materials science, and deeper engineering talent than ever before. That's what we do. That's what we've always done. And we're just getting started.

Western Digital's Strategy & Corporate Development team is the connective tissue bridging Western Digital's technology to the markets it will serve. We turn deep-tech capability into commercial impact, strengthening our position in the core HDD business, setting the company's long-term strategy, and executing the partnerships, investments, and acquisitions that shape what we build next.

If you want to work on problems that matter at the intersection of deep technology, business strategy, and real-world impact, we would love to talk.

Key Responsibilities

M&A Lifecycle Ownership

• Own the full M&A lifecycle end-to-end: target identification, due diligence, valuation, structuring, negotiation, and close across both the core HDD business and new ventures spanning a wide spectrum of deep tech opportunities including but not limited to photonics, magnetics, and nano-fabrication.
• Lead complex transaction execution including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, spin outs/ins, creative capital structures, divestitures, and vertical integration aligned to Western Digital's strategic priorities.
• Develop rigorous valuation frameworks, financial models, and deal structures.

Deal Pipeline and Portfolio Optimization 

• Build and maintain a proprietary deal pipeline across data storage, AI/cloud adjacencies, and deep-tech by engaging with bankers, investors, startups, and operators to source high-quality opportunities aligned with Western Digital's strategic direction.

• Optimize the corporate portfolio through appropriate acquisitions, divestitures, and strategic partnerships and evaluate build-vs-buy-vs-partner decisions for new capability development, technology acquisition, vertical integration, and market entry.

Corporate Venture & Strategic Investments

• Support corporate venture investment strategy by building relationships with VCs, accelerators, and ecosystem partners to source and invest in high-potential technology companies and startups that are aligned with WD’s strategic priorities.
• Assess emerging technologies and business models in storage, data infrastructure, AI, and deep-tech related to New Ventures for potential minority investment or strategic partnership.

Executive Communication

• Deliver investment recommendations and executive briefings to the Executive Leadership Team (C-suite) and Board of Directors to translate complex deal opportunities into clear, actionable investment priorities.
• Synthesize market intelligence, competitive analysis, and financial modeling into compelling investment theses and strategic recommendations.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with key stakeholders across the business (Engineering, Product, Finance, Commercial, Legal, HR) to coordinate on key deal activities and integration planning with long-range strategic plans and integration planning.

• Minimum 8–10 years in M&A, investment banking, private equity, corporate development, venture capital, or corporate ventures. 
• Industry experience in a highly technical field required e.g., storage, semiconductor, infrastructure, aerospace/defense, biopharma, telecom, etc.
• Proven M&A execution and deal track record with full-cycle transaction ownership, including deep experience with financial modeling, due diligence, negotiation, and post-merger activity.
• Exceptional financial modeling capability with the ability to independently build sophisticated valuation and deal models from scratch.
• Strong strategic thinking with the ability to think through and execute creative deal structures and economics to onboard new partners and acquisition targets and align on value creation.
• Proven cross-functional deal management experience across Legal, Finance, Product, Engineering, and business unit stakeholders.
• Track record of building and leveraging relationships across bankers, investors, advisors, operators, and internal stakeholders.
• Experienced in presenting to and influencing C-suite and Board-level executives .

Preferred Qualifications

• AI-adjacent experience (data, storage, software, memory subsystems) and/or prior experience working with or for hyperscale cloud providers, semiconductor companies, or large OEMs.
• Direct venture investing experience in deep-tech with a track record of sourcing, structuring, and managing minority investments.
• Active external network (bankers, VCs, advisors) to support independent deal flow.
• Experience with cross-border M&A and international transaction structuring.
• Familiarity with various corporate venture capital models and strategic investment portfolio management.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or a related technical field.
• MBA from top-tier business school preferred.

Location

• San Jose, California (must be willing to relocate).
• Flexibility for remote work within established company policies.
• 15-25% travel including domestic and international travel to meet with targets, advisors, investors, partners, and industry events.

What Makes This Role Unique

This is a critical strategic leadership position responsible for driving Western Digital's inorganic growth agenda through M&A, joint ventures, divestitures, and venture investments. The role owns the full deal lifecycle end-to-end and directly shapes the company's portfolio evolution, strengthening the cord HDD business while expanding into new areas for growth. The Senior Director will engage directly with senior leadership on multi-hundred-million to multi-billion dollar transactions, requiring exceptional deal execution capability, financial rigor, and the ability to shape C-suite decisions that define Western Digital's future.

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 [email protected] 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 10/06/2026 (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.

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.
• 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 WD’s 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 WD'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 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 Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s 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 [email protected].