SSD Firmware Engineer

Summary

Join Western Digital's firmware team and contribute to the development of firmware for solid-state storage devices used in consumer computer systems. You will work collaboratively with other engineers to design, implement, and test firmware features, focusing on NAND memory device control and performance optimization. This role requires a minimum of 3 years of firmware engineering experience and strong C programming skills. The ideal candidate will possess NAND and RTOS experience, though it's not mandatory. Western Digital offers a comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, health insurance, life and disability insurance, retirement benefits, and professional development opportunities.

Requirements

• Minimum of 3 years engineering experience, firmware experience required
• Able to analyze and communicate at various levels of abstraction
• Innovative problem solver
• Strong “C” programming experience and skills
• Ability to communicate ideas clearly and influence technical direction; strong verbal and written communication

Responsibilities

• Interface to and control NAND memory devices
• Implement basic operations such as erase, write, and read
• Develop sophisticated algorithms to maximize performance (write cache, read cache, program and erase suspend/resume, configuring read thresholds for optimal performance)
• Develop mechanisms to handle defect mechanisms (uncorrectable ECC errors, program failures, etc.)
• Implement countermeasures against defects (read scrub, wear leveling, optimizing program voltage levels, tracking and setting NAND read thresholds, etc.)
• Examine design options and evaluate tradeoffs between performance, memory requirements, and processor workloads
• Collaborate with engineers in other teams at Western Digital (Memory Systems, NAND/memory, System Architecture, and Validation) to define overall drive functionality and behavior
• Design and draft specifications for FW features that integrate within the overall SSD system and firmware architecture
• Implement the necessary functionality in C/C++ (and/or machine language in some cases)
• Use debuggers and other tools to analyze failures and correct software defects

Preferred Qualifications

• NAND experience
• RTOS experience

Benefits

• 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
• The Western Digital Savings 401(k) Plan
• Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan
• Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program (restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents)