About the role#
This co-op position is part of our early career development program, designed for students to gain foundational experience through structured mentorship and training. You will join an Agile scrum team in Rochester, Minnesota, to support the development of enterprise-level Hard Disk Drives (HDD).
What you'll do#
- Support the development and testing of hardware abstraction layers and engineering commands.
- Write and maintain validation scripts for developer and debug tools.
- Contribute to test scripts within Continuous Integration environments.
- Collaborate with internal teams on integration and performance validation.
- Apply machine learning to optimize test times and improve HDD read/write performance.
- Plan and execute channel verification experiments and failure analysis investigations.
- Build automated data pipelines to collect, clean, and analyze test result datasets.
- Use statistical modeling and anomaly detection to identify failure modes in magnetic recording channel components.
- Create data visualizations and reports to communicate performance findings to stakeholders.
What you'll need#
- Pursuing a B.S. or M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field.
- Working knowledge of C/C++ or Python and familiarity with object-oriented programming.
- Exposure to machine learning concepts including data preparation, model training, and evaluation.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and technical communication skills.
- Ability to work effectively in a collaborative team environment.
- Right to work in the US without requiring sponsorship.
- Preferred experience includes coursework in embedded systems or hardware/software integration, familiarity with TCL, R, or MATLAB, basic knowledge of HDD functionality, and hands-on experience with oscilloscopes or measurement instrumentation.
Location & details#
- Location: Rochester, Minnesota.
- Term: Winter 2027.
- Work Modality: On-site.
- Employment Type: Full-time intern.
- Paid: Yes.
About Western Digital
Western Digital builds storage infrastructure for data management. The company produces hardware including hard disk drives and solid state drives for cloud storage and data centers. It operates as a public company based in San Jose, California. The organization employs over 22,000 people.
How to get in at Western Digital
Applying early is a distinct advantage at Western Digital because recruiters review applications as they arrive. Intern Insider sends an instant alert the moment a role matching your target is published, so you can apply among the first before the pile grows. This helps you avoid the frustration of submitting your resume to a crowded queue. You can also improve your response rates by reaching out to recruiters directly to ask about the role or a referral. Intern Insider surfaces the recruiters behind the company roles so you have the right contact information to start a professional conversation. It is a more effective approach than waiting for a status update on a portal.
