Vice President Enterprise Architecture Engineering

Overview

Job Description

The Vice President - Enterprise Architecture & Engineering will serve as the strategic technology leader responsible for shaping and governing the company’s end-to-end architecture vision. This executive will ensure that the enterprise technology ecosystem—spanning data, applications, AI, and infrastructure—remains scalable, secure, and aligned with business goals.

Partnering closely with the CIO and senior leadership, the VP will drive architectural innovation, champion AI-enabled capabilities, and build a high-performing architecture function that accelerates digital transformation and operational excellence. The role serves as a market-leading trend scout, continuously scanning emerging technologies and translating those insights into actionable strategies that ensure WDC remains modern, competitive, and future-ready.

Key Responsibilities :

Strategic Technology Leadership

Define and own the enterprise technology roadmap that aligns AI-driven innovation with business goals.

Partner with the CIO to balance immediate delivery needs against long-term architectural evolution.

Translate emerging technologies into actionable, value-driven initiatives.

Architectural Oversight

Lead the Enterprise Architecture organization, ensuring architectural coherence across Data Platforms, Assurance, Supply Chain, MES, and other core domains.

Establish standards, reference architectures, and governance frameworks to ensure scalability, security, and regulatory compliance.

Oversee architecture review boards and ensure consistent application of enterprise design principles.

Agentic AI Program

Champion the design, development, and rollout of Agentic AI solutions that automate decision-making and enhance customer value.

Define success metrics, model governance, and ethical AI principles to guide deployment.

Collaborate with Data Science and Engineering to operationalize AI in core business processes.

Team Building & Management

Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing architecture team—including enterprise architects, senior engineers, and AI specialists.

Foster a culture of technical rigor, innovation, and cross-functional collaboration.

Establish professional development programs to strengthen architectural expertise across the enterprise.

Executive Partnership

Serve as the primary technical advisor to the CIO and a trusted voice to executive leadership.

Translate complex technical concepts into clear business narratives for senior leadership, the board, and external partners.

Influence enterprise priorities through data-driven insights and architectural foresight.

Stakeholder Alignment

Partner with product, engineering, operations, and business unit leaders to ensure architecture decisions enable rapid delivery while maintaining reliability and security.

Conduct architecture and risk assessments to proactively manage technology debt and compliance posture.

Innovation & Thought Leadership

Keep the organization at the forefront of emerging technologies including cloud-native computing, AI / ML, microservices, and edge computing.

Represent the company at industry events, conferences, and internal technology forums.

Lead strategic technology evaluations and proofs-of-concepts for next-generation solutions.

Operational Excellence

Oversee technology budgeting, vendor evaluation, and capacity planning in partnership with the CIO.

Ensure adherence to global security, privacy, and regulatory requirements across all enterprise platforms.

Drive continuous improvement in architecture governance and technology lifecycle management.

Qualifications

Experience

12–15 years of progressive experience in software engineering, systems design, or enterprise architecture.

Minimum 5 years in senior technology leadership (Director, VP, or CTO-equivalent) within a complex, global organization.

Demonstrated success leading large-scale architecture transformations and AI-driven initiatives.

Technical Expertise

Deep mastery of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and modern infrastructure (Kubernetes, IaC, serverless).

Proven experience designing and scaling data-centric architectures (data lake / warehouse, streaming, real-time analytics).

Hands-on experience building and deploying Agentic / Autonomous AI pipelines in production environments.

Strong background in enterprise integration (API-first, event-driven, ESB) and manufacturing execution systems (MES, Kinaxis).

Leadership & Communication

Exceptional ability to recruit, develop, and retain top technical talent.

Outstanding executive communication and influence skills; able to present complex ideas clearly to non-technical audiences and the board.

Strong strategic mindset with the ability to connect architecture decisions to measurable business outcomes.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or related field required; Master’s degree preferred.

Preferred

Experience in regulated or mission-critical industries (e.g., manufacturing, aerospace, fintech).

Certifications : TOGAF, AWS / Azure Solutions Architect, or equivalent. Recognized contributions to the field through publications, patents, or speaking engagements on AI, architecture, or large-scale systems.

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, sex, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status, physical or mental disability, genetic information, 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.

Western Digital thrives on the power and potential of diversity. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through belonging, respect and contribution.

Western Digital is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can navigate our careers website and hiring process. Please contact us at jobs.accommodations@wdc.com to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be three months from posting, though we reserve the right to close the process sooner if we hire before then. If we are not able to hire for this role before the deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated deadline.

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