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.

At our core, Western Digital is a company of problem solvers. People achieve extraordinary things given the right technology. For decades, we’ve been doing just that. Our technology helped people put a man on the moon.

We are a key partner to some of the largest and highest growth organizations in the world. From energizing the most competitive gaming platforms, to enabling systems to make cities safer and cars smarter and more connected, to powering the data centers behind many of the world’s biggest companies and public cloud, Western Digital is fueling a brighter, smarter future.

As we deliver this future, we want to do so by becoming a Sustainable business that embraces the journey with continuous improvement. This role is part of a step to further our commitment to this cause. 

We are instituting a new Sustainability Department within Global Operations, defined as a dynamic and strategic central team that directs, develops, and implements the key pillars of Sustainability across Western Digital operations.

The charter of the department is to operationalize Sustainability prerogatives around Production, Product and Responsible Supply Chain through Global Operations, by building capability, setting priorities, and installing a data-driven paradigm of execution. This team influences strategy, drives decision making and delivers committed results.

The Director of Sustainability (Production) will set the direction and pace to operationalize the key tenets of the strategy, by working closely with the operations teams in all the WD factories.

The incumbent will develop and maintain strong collaborative and cooperative working relationships with team members across different functions and at different levels within the organization. The position requires enthusiasm, passion, attention to detail and a desire to lead in a cross-functional matrix environment. In addition, the leader should have a strong appreciation for data and lead with a pioneering spirit.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Partner closely with the factories and with the corporate sustainability team to develop and achieve the objectives for the workstream. Translate strategic priorities to operational time-defined goals.
• Drive the WD operations teams to achieve YoY progress towards the external commitment on emissions and other production-driven metrics like water and waste reduction.
• Understand Governmental regulations in the regions with WD factories and also options for renewable energy in these areas.
• Collaborate with the regional leaders in the search for renewable PPAs, RECs and in quantifying the impact of such PPAs into the overall WD landscape. In addition, drive the process of solidifying such options, balancing business/financial/sustainability impacts, into execution plans and commitments, by program managing to a playbook of steps
• Build a network of teams with commitment, knowledge and passion, work with the operations teams, factories and logistics teams to build concrete activities and plans to achieve the sustainability objectives
• As knowledge expert around energy, emissions, water, waste, labor and health & safety, understand external and internal best practices, drive continuous improvement and innovations to constructively lead change across the teams.
• Drive a quantitative approach to all the sustainability levers underpinned by sound science and math-based methodologies, lead preparing data-oriented responses to internal and customer-queries.
• Be an expert user of an ESG platform, together with the team, build a sustainable data architecture for the production facilities to feed into the ESG platform in an automated fashion
• Prepare towards internal and external reporting on progress to the goals in the areas of energy/emissions, water & waste, labor and health and safety

REQUIRED:

• B.S./B.A. degree required (in relevant area such as Engineering, Supply Chain, Business, or allied discipline), with at least 15 years of experience in various areas of operations or in business units
• MBA and other relevant degree /certification in environmental sciences/sustainability -  highly desirable

SKILLS:

• Good command of English communications.
• A passionate and result-oriented leader who can help decarbonize our product realization profile supporting our stakeholder aspirations and growth in the years to come.
• Organized, with excellent attention to detail and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong listening, analytic and organizational skills.
• Team player with a positive attitude.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with ability to drive conflict resolution.

Because Western Digital thrives on the power of diversity and is committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect, and contribution, we are committed to giving every qualified applicant and employee an equal opportunity.  Western Digital does not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their protected class status and complies with all federal and state laws against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, as well as the laws and regulations set forth in the "Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law" poster.