Ph.D. Interface Scientist - Advanced Materials & Future Storage Technologies

Company Description

At WD, 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, WD 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®, and 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, WD 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

Join our advanced R&D team focused on next-generation storage technologies. In this role, you will design and execute experiments to better understand material interfaces, ultra-thin films, and thermal transport mechanisms related to future HDD technologies.

You will work in a highly collaborative laboratory environment alongside scientists and engineers across multiple disciplines. This position combines hands-on experimentation, instrumentation development, data analysis, and scientific problem solving.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Design and execute laboratory experiments related to advanced materials and interface science
• Develop and support instrumentation and experimental workflows
• Collect, analyze, and present scientific data
• Perform ultra-thin film and surface characterization
• Collaborate with cross-functional engineering and research teams
• Utilize Python and modern analytical tools to support experimentation and data analysis

This role is part of WD's early career development program. WD's early career development program is ideal for individuals at the early stages of their professional career.  Participants receive foundational training through structured onboarding, mentorship, and a curated development curriculum. The responsibilities of this role are typically aligned with candidates who have approximately 0–2+ years of relevant professional experience, though candidates of all experience levels are encouraged to apply.

Qualifications

Required:

• Currently enrolled or recently completed a PhD in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science/Engineering, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, or related field
• Extensive hands-on laboratory research experience
• Experience designing and executing scientific experiments
• Strong Python programming and data analysis skills
• Experience with instrumentation development and/or instrumentation programming
• Experience with thin film characterization techniques such as:
  • Ellipsometry
  • TEM
  • SEM
  • AFM
  • FTIR
  • IR spectroscopy
  • Related analytical techniques
• Strong communication, presentation, and collaboration skills

Preferred:

• Experience with scientific automation workflows
• Experience working with large experimental datasets
• Exposure to AI-assisted research or analytical tools

Additional Information

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 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 Ri