Summer 2026 Intern - System Testing - MS Only

Company Description

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.

Job Description

As an intern on this team, you’ll help make sure our storage platforms behave reliably at scale, from early FPGA prototypes all the way to production-worthy parts shipping from the fab.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Assist in developing and executing test plans for FPGA-based boards and storage systems using NVMe over Fabrics.
• Help define test requirements and strategies with engineers across hardware, firmware, and systems.
• Set up and configure lab test environments, including hardware installation, cabling through Ethernet switches, and required software/tools.
• Run automated and manual test cases, capture logs, document results, and clearly call out discrepancies or failures.
• Use Python and other scripting languages to build, extend, and maintain test scripts and simple automation frameworks.
• Work closely with firmware and hardware engineers to debug and troubleshoot issues.
• Contribute ideas to improve test methodologies, coverage, and efficiency, especially around automation.
• Share progress in regular team meetings and collaborate with peers to solve real test and validation problems.

Qualifications

Required:

• Currently pursuing a Master’s degree, ideally in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a closely related field.
• Interested in system validation / testing and how large-scale storage systems behave in real data center-like environments.
• Strong programming and scripting skills, especially in one or more of:
  • Python
  • Perl
  • Shell (or similar scripting languages)
• Solid understanding of software fundamentals (data structures, debugging, writing clean and testable code).
• Experience from coursework, labs, or projects in system or software testing, automation, or validation.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with attention to detail when reading logs, tracing failures, and documenting findings.
• Effective communication and teamwork skills—you can explain what you’re seeing and ask good questions.
• An eagerness to learn quickly, adapt to new tools and environments, and work in a fast-moving, highly technical team.

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. 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 Digi