Principal Engineer, Applications Engineering (APC)

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.

We are a key partner to some of the largest and highest growth organizations in the world. From energizing the most competitive gaming platforms, to enabling systems to make cities safer and cars smarter and more connected, to powering the data centers behind many of the world’s biggest companies and public cloud, Western Digital is fueling a brighter, smarter future.

Binge-watch any shows, use social media or shop online lately? You’ll find Western Digital supporting the storage infrastructure behind many of these platforms. And, that flash memory card that captures and preserves your most precious moments? That’s us, too.

We offer an expansive portfolio of technologies, storage devices and platforms for business and consumers alike. Our data-centric solutions are comprised of the Western Digital®, G-Technology™, SanDisk® and WD® brands.

Today’s exceptional challenges require your unique skills. It’s You & Western Digital. Together, we’re the next BIG thing in data.

Job Description

Principal Engineer, Applications Engineering (APC) will be responsible for supporting HAMR program by developing new and maintaining existing Advanced Process Control systems (including run-to-run control and fault detection and classification) for HAMR program manufacturing yield & quality, process capability, cycle time and productivity improvement.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Team leader to implement APC solutions through partnership with HAMR Process Engineering, Equipment Engineering and IT teams.
• Manage HAMR APC projects toward successful production release and quantify benefits against baseline with business and process metrics.
• Performing data analysis to determine and optimize FDC model for fault detection
• Setting up new control strategies, recipe for automation. Supporting process engineers to maintain existing control strategies. Work with process engineering team for setting up central recipe management system (CRMS) and run/batch builder configuration.
• Performing data analysis to determine and optimize control model and tuning algorithm for R2R controller with feedback and feed-forward control.
• Design and develop new FDC models for scrap prevention, tool matching, preventative maintenance prediction and enabling condition based maintenance.
• Performing system integration test for run-to-run control, fault detection and automation host software.
• Maintaining run-to-run control and fault detection systems. Monitor R2R controller and FD model performance and initiate continuous improvement projects to maximize benefits of APC solutions.
• Troubleshooting to find root cause of system problem or software error.
• Assist in system recovery to production state in the event of system failure.
• Participate in run-to-run control and fault detection system improvement roadmap planning.
• The engineer will be working in a fast-paced, cross-functional team environment.
• Must be a team player who can work well with diverse team and able to drive continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• MS/PhD degree in Engineering (Computer, Electrical, Chemical, Industrial or Mechanical), Applied Physics, Operations Research or Statistics.
• Must have research or work experience with run-to-run control system and fault detection for high tech manufacturing environment.
• Experience with Statistical analysis and ML (e.g., JMP/MINITAB, MATLAB, Python) and ML/MVA software, run-to-run control and fault detection software.
• Strong analytical and programming skills, statistical data analysis, DOE, regression analysis and multivariate data analysis skills. Familiarity with processing technologies and equipment.
• Must also have a good understanding of Information Technology: Microsoft and Linux operating systems, SQL server, SQL queries, networking, SECS/GEM tool communication and data acquisition (DAQ) technologies.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills with Project Management experience.

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 pers