Field Applications Engineering Sales

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®, WD_BLACK™, and SanDisk® Professional brands.

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.

The Field Applications Engineering (FAE) is a high-impact, cross-functional leadership role responsible for driving strategic technical engagements across key North American customer accounts. This individual will lead the FAE team, remove operational roadblocks, and ensure successful sales and qualification of all drive products. 

As the Voice of the Customer within Western Digital, the FAE will align customer needs with internal product roadmap, foster joint technology partnerships, and build strategic bridges between customer stakeholders and Western Digital’s business units. This role demands leadership, technical depth, and the ability to influence both internal and external teams. 
 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

Customer & Technical Team Leadership 

• Serve as the primary escalation path for both customer and internal technical teams, resolving issues swiftly and communicating resolutions to executive management. 
• Attend technical customer meetings to maintain direct engagement and assess the proficiency and effectiveness of the technical teams. 
• Establish and nurture strong relationships with regional and strategic customers, acting as the technical focal point for all qualification needs. 
• Communicate and consolidate technical status updates for managed accounts to the leadership team. 

Team Enablement & Resource Optimization 

• Identify and request necessary resources such as training, databases, tools, and process enhancements to maximize team productivity. 
• Proactively remove roadblocks that hinder the FAE team’s ability to succeed in sales and product qualification efforts. 
• Work closely with the sales team to identify and capitalize on new business opportunities. 

Product Qualification & Lifecycle Management 

• Provide direct support for product qualification activities across regional accounts. 
• Define and manage qualification start and RTS (Release to Ship) dates to align with customer revenue build schedules. 
• Organize and participate in Concept and Product Design Reviews, ensuring all action items are tracked and closed. 
• Collect and communicate unique customer hardware and software requirements to the Application Engineering teams 
• Collaborate with customers on qualification schedules and ensure accurate status tracking in the company’s qualification database. 

Cross-Functional Collaboration 

• Coordinate with the System Integrity Test (SIT) teams, supplying customer-specific hardware and test-ware data to support successful product qualifications. 
• Ensure timely delivery and tracking of all customer product samples, including engineering and qualification units. 

Technical Expertise & On-Site Support 

• Provide on-site diagnostic support and failure analysis, including capturing bus traces, product logs, and performing initial assessments. 
• Ensure proper follow-up and closure of failure analysis issues by engaging subject matter experts. 

REQUIRED

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field. 
• 10+ years of experience in enterprise storage solutions and technical sales. 
• Deep knowledge of DAS, SAN, NAS, Linux scripting, and S3-compliant systems. 
• Proven track record in pre-sales, solution design, and customer engagement. 

SKILLS

• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and presentation skills. 
• Ability to lead in a dynamic, startup-like environment with shifting priorities. 
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally as needed. 

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. 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.

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 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.

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 [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 01/6/2026 (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.

Notice To Candidates: Please be aware that Western Digital 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 Western Digital Ethics Helpline or email [email protected].

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 Western Digital’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 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.

Notice To Candidates: Please be aware that Western Digital 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 Western Digital Ethics Helpline or email [email protected].