Principal Engineer, Applications Engineering (APC)

Principal Engineer, Applications Engineering (APC)

• Full-time
• Job Type (exemption status): Exempt position
• Salary Range: 131,920.00-186,900.00
• Business Function: Applications Engineering
• Work Location: Fremont Office--LOC_WDT_USCA13

At Western Digital, our vision is to power global innovation and push the boundaries of technology to make what you thought was once impossible, possible.

Principal Engineer, Applications Engineering (APC) will be responsible for supporting HAMR program by developing new and maintaining existing Advanced Process Control systems (including run-to-run control and fault detection and classification) for HAMR program manufacturing yield & quality, process capability, cycle time and productivity improvement.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Team leader to implement APC solutions through partnership with HAMR Process Engineering, Equipment Engineering and IT teams.
• Manage HAMR APC projects toward successful production release and quantify benefits against baseline with business and process metrics.
• Performing data analysis to determine and optimize FDC model for fault detection.
• Setting up new control strategies, recipe for automation. Supporting process engineers to maintain existing control strategies.
• Performing data analysis to determine and optimize control model and tuning algorithm for R2R controller with feedback and feed-forward control.
• Design and develop new FDC models for scrap prevention, tool matching, preventative maintenance prediction and enabling condition based maintenance.
• Performing system integration test for run-to-run control, fault detection and automation host software.
• Maintaining run-to-run control and fault detection systems. Monitor R2R controller and FD model performance and initiate continuous improvement projects.
• Troubleshooting to find root cause of system problem or software error.
• Assist in system recovery to production state in the event of system failure.
• Participate in run-to-run control and fault detection system improvement roadmap planning.
• The engineer will be working in a fast-paced, cross-functional team environment.
• Must be a team player who can work well with diverse team and able to drive continuous improvement.

Minimum Qualifications:

• MS/PhD degree in Engineering (Computer, Electrical, Chemical, Industrial or Mechanical), Applied Physics, Operations Research or Statistics.
• Must have research or work experience with run-to-run control system and fault detection for high tech manufacturing environment.
• Experience with Statistical analysis and ML (e.g., JMP/MINITAB, MATLAB, Python) and ML/MVA software, run-to-run control and fault detection software.
• Strong analytical and programming skills, statistical data analysis, DOE, regression analysis and multivariate data analysis skills.
• Must also have a good understanding of Information Technology: Microsoft and Linux operating systems, SQL server, SQL queries, networking, SECS/GEM tool communication and data acquisition (DAQ) technologies.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills with Project Management experience.

Western Digital is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate based on their race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status, physical disability, mental disability, or other legally protected characteristics.

Western Digital thrives on the power and potential of diversity. 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.