Senior Technologist, System Architecture - AI Adoption & Development at Western Digital in Rochester, MN

Job description

WD's CTO System Architecture is seeking a Senior Technologist to lead AI adoption, tool development, and best practices across our technology planning, roadmap execution, and cross-functional engineering processes. You'll define how WD uses AI agents, large language models, and intelligent automation to improve strategic decision-making, operational visibility, and organizational alignment — influencing adoption across System Architecture and cross-functional technology and engineering teams. This is a high-impact, high-visibility role for a technologist who combines deep AI expertise with strategic thinking, mentorship capability, and the drive to transform how an organization plans and executes technology strategy at scale. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: What You'll Do Define AI Vision — Establish WD's adoption roadmap and best practices for AI agents, LLMs, and intelligent tools across technology planning and engineering processes Lead AI-Managed Roadmap Platform Evolution — Guide post-launch improvements to our AI-enabled technology roadmap dashboard and chat interface, ensuring it becomes the organization's single source of truth Develop High-Impact Agents — Oversee design and development of transformational AI agents that automate status tracking, gap identification, and insight generation Influence Cross-Functional Adoption — Partner with engineering and technology leadership to establish governance, standards, and ROI metrics for AI tool deployment Build Internal Expertise — Mentor co-op engineers to technologists; foster a culture of AI-driven systems thinking across teams Evaluate Partnerships & Vendors — Assess and recommend strategic AI/LLM vendors and platform partnerships aligned with WD's needs What You'll Gain Shape how a global technology leader plans and executes long-range strategy Work with cutting-edge AI tools in real, high-stakes environments with significant organizational impact Mentor and build a community of AI-enabled technologists Direct visibility with CTO leadership and cross-functional executive stakeholders Strategic influence over technology adoption and organizational effectiveness Required: 7+ years in technology leadership, systems engineering, or AI/data platform development Deep hands-on experience building AI agents, LLM applications, or agentic workflows in production environments Strong background in data architecture, data pipelines, and analytics tool development Proven ability to ship AI tools end-to-end and translate business problems into AI solutions Excellent communication skills; ability to inspire adoption across technical and non-technical audiences Leadership experience mentoring engineers and influencing cross-functional teams Preferred: Experience with RAG systems, enterprise knowledge management, or LLM frameworks Background in process improvement, operational transformation, or change management Track record building internal developer tools or enterprise software platforms Exposure to technology roadmap planning, R&D strategy, or long-range product planning Background in storage systems or semiconductor technology 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 protecte