Chief of Staff - Product Management & Emerging Businesses

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™.

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

Western Digital is seeking a Senior Director, Chief of Staff — Product Management & Emerging Businesses to serve as a strategic and operational partner to the SVP of Product Management and Emerging Businesses. This role acts as an extension of the SVP, driving operational rigor, execution of key initiatives, and cross-functional alignment across the entire organization.

This position operates at the center of product, technology, and business decision-making — ensuring that strategy translates into action. The Chief of Staff leads operating cadence, drives accountability across priorities, enables effective decision-making, and ensures alignment of resources, investments, and outcomes.

The role serves as a force multiplier for Product leadership by improving execution speed, decision quality, and organizational efficiency. Success in this role requires strong judgment, enterprise-wide perspective, and the ability to lead through influence in a highly matrixed environment.

The ideal candidate brings a combination of operational leadership, program execution, financial acumen, and cross-functional collaboration, with experience in engineering, program management, finance, or prior Chief of Staff roles within complex technology organizations.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Execution & Initiative Leadership

· Partner with the SVP to translate strategy into executable plans, priorities, and measurable outcomes
· Drive and track high-impact initiatives across Product Management and Emerging Businesses
· Ensure alignment of goals, resources, and timelines across the organization
· Act as a delegate for the SVP to advance initiatives and remove execution barriers

Product Management Operating System & Cadence

· Own and run the global Product Management operating cadence including QBRs, roadmap reviews, executive checkpoints, and planning cycles
· Establish and maintain operating rigor across planning, execution, and review processes
· Drive accountability for deliverables, timelines, and business outcomes
· Continuously improve processes to increase efficiency, transparency, and speed

Decision Support & Prioritization

· Enable high-quality decision-making through structured analysis, insights, and executive-ready recommendations
· Help prioritize initiatives and investments based on strategic value, ROI, and resource constraints
· Anticipate risks, identify trade-offs, and recommend actionable solutions
· Ensure decisions are aligned with enterprise objectives and long-term strategy

Financial, Resource & Workforce Planning

· Partner closely with Finance on budgeting, forecasting, and investment planning
· Monitor performance against financial targets, portfolio investments, and cost structures
· Collaborate with HR on organizational planning, talent strategy, and workforce alignment
· Ensure resources are deployed effectively to support strategic priorities

KPI & Performance Management

· Establish and track key performance indicators across revenue, margin, execution, and operational health
· Provide visibility into business performance, trends, and areas of risk or opportunity
· Drive a results-oriented culture with clear metrics and accountability
· Ensure consistent reporting and performance management across the organization

Cross-Functional Leadership & Alignment

· Serve as a central coordination point across Product, Engineering, Firmware, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, HR, and Go-to-Market