Director Firmware Engineering - San Jose, United States
Originally posted 20 October 2026 by the employer.
About the role
The Director Firmware Engineering leads hardware, firmware, and tooling development across geographically distributed international engineering teams. The position directs the implementation of HDD real-time motion and parameter control microarchitecture, instruction set architecture, and servo control firmware.
What you'll do
- Direct the implementation of HDD real-time motion and parameter control microarchitecture, instruction set architecture, firmware architecture, and tool chains. - Work with stakeholders on the implementation of HDD firmware related to servo control. - Lead hardware, firmware, and tooling development teams across geographically distributed international locations. - Define hardware, firmware, and associated tool designs alongside engineering stakeholders. - Negotiate project priorities with business and engineering stakeholders. - Drive execution of defined hardware, firmware, and tooling strategies.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a relevant field. - 10+ years of experience in embedded architecture and development. - 10+ years of experience as an embedded or firmware technical leader. - Strong communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills across worldwide engineering teams in English.
This role has been open 0 days — well below the 56-day median for Embedded Firmware Engineering roles.
Embedded Firmware Engineering · Systems Software
|
Open roles in category
736
|
Median days open
56 d
|
Median salary
$169k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Western Digital | All employers we track in this specialty (736 roles · 85 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 19 | 736 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 48 | 6296 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 76 d | 56 d (+20 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $169k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 123 open roles · median 51 d
- AMD · 63 open roles · median 39 d
- Micron Technology · 63 open roles · median 89 d
- NVIDIA · 54 open roles · median 62 d
- Lattice Semiconductor · 48 open roles · median 42 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 30 open roles · median 34 d
How we counted: 736 open Embedded Firmware Engineering (Systems Software) roles from 85 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 21 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.