Principal AI Program Manager

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.

WD is seeking a Principal AI Program Manager to lead enterprise-scale AI initiatives across the organization. This role operates at a strategic level, partnering with senior stakeholders to define and execute a comprehensive AI roadmap, while ensuring operational excellence, governance, and measurable business impact.

You will act as a critical bridge between business priorities, technology capabilities, and execution teams—driving alignment, scalability, and value realization across multiple concurrent AI programs.

Essential Duties  & Responsibilities

Strategic Stakeholder Alignment

• Develop and own the enterprise AI roadmap, aligned with corporate priorities and cross-functional stakeholder needs
• Partner with executive leadership to define clear outcomes, success metrics, and timelines for AI initiatives
• Drive alignment across IT, Product, Engineering, and Business functions to ensure cohesive execution
• Translate business objectives into scalable AI-enabled solutions and prioritized programs

Program & Project Execution

• Lead multiple concurrent AI programs from ideation through delivery and adoption
• Establish program structures, milestones, and delivery frameworks across complex initiatives
• Drive execution rigor, risk management, and dependency tracking across cross-functional teams
• Ensure delivery of measurable outcomes, including productivity gains, cost efficiencies, and innovation impact

Governance & Operational Excellence

• Establish and scale program governance frameworks for AI initiatives

Financial Planning & Resource Management

• Develop and manage budgets, including resource allocation, vendor spend, and workforce planning
• Optimize onboarding strategies for FTEs and contingent workers

Operational Excellence

• Implement standardized processes, KPIs, and reporting to ensure program health and performance visibility
• Drive continuous improvement through data-driven insights

Talent Development & Agile Ways of Working

• Champion Agile methodologies and modern delivery practices
• Mentor and grow program managers, engineers, and cross-functional talent
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous learning

AI Technology Enablement

• Maintain strong understanding of AI/ML tools, platforms, and emerging technologies
• Identify and deploy tools that improve productivity, automation, and decision-making across teams

Vendor & Partner Management

• Identify, evaluate, and onboard strategic vendors and partners, including contingent workforce
• Establish frameworks for vendor assessment, interviewing, and selection
• Manage vendor performance, contracts, and deliverables to ensure quality and alignment with business outcomes
• Build scalable partner ecosystems to support AI program delivery

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field
• Deep experience in program management, IT, or technology leadership roles
• Proven experience leading enterprise-scale AI/ML or data-driven initiatives
• Strong track record of managing multiple complex programs simultaneously
• Experience with stakeholder management at executive levels
• Expertise in financial planning, budgeting, and resource allocation
• Deep understanding of Agile methodologies and modern delivery frameworks

Preferred

• Master’s degree or MBA
• Experience in data infrastructure, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), and AI/ML ecosystems
• Familiarity with MLOps, GenAI tools, and enterprise AI governance frameworks
• Experience within semiconductor, storage, or high-tech industries
• Strong vendor management and outsourcing experience

Leadership Expectations

• Acts as a strategic thought partner to senior leadership
• Drives enterprise-wide impact across multiple business domains
• Leads through influence in highly matrixed environments
• Establishes scalable frameworks and best practices adopted across the organization

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 Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” poster. Our pay transparency policy is available here.

WD thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, our company, our customers, and the world around us. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution.

WD is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at [email protected] to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be 6/27/26, although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline. If we are not able to hire someone from this role before the application deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated application deadline.

#LI-BN1

Compensation & Benefits Details

• An employee’s pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
• The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting.  We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York.  This range may be modified in the future.
• If your position is non-exempt, you are eligible for overtime pay pursuant to company policy and applicable laws.  You may also be eligible for shift differential pay, depending on the shift to which you are assigned.

• You will be eligible to be considered for bonuses under either WD’s Short Term Incentive Plan (“STI Plan”) or the Sales Incentive Plan (“SIP”) which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance, depending on your role and your performance. You may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to WD's Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards.

• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity; tuition reimbursement; transit; the Applause Program; employee stock purchase plan; and the WD Savings 401(k) Plan.
• Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.

Notice To Candidates: Please be aware that WD and its subsidiaries will never request payment as a condition for applying for a position or receiving an offer of employment. Should you encounter any such requests, please report it immediately to WD Ethics Helpline or email [email protected].