Director, Organizational Development and Strategic Workforce Planning

The Director, Organizational Development and Strategic Workforce Planning will architect Western Digital's enterprise-wide approach for Workforce Planning, Organization Design and Team Effectiveness. This role combines strategic thinking with hands-on execution, requiring expertise in organizational design principles and workforce planning. 

As a key partner to senior leadership and the HR community, you'll define how we approach organizational design and workforce planning across WD—then roll up your sleeves to make it happen. You'll build capability in our HRBPs while personally leading high-impact initiatives that shape how we work. 

Duties and Responsibilities  

Strategic Architecture 

• Design and implement a scalable, enterprise-wide organizational design, team effectiveness and workforce planning frameworks aligned to business objectives and growth trajectory 

• Act as trusted advisor to senior leadership, translating business strategy into organizational structure, capability requirements, and workforce implications 

• Develop predictive workforce models that identify talent gaps and risks, and future capability needs across critical roles and functions 

Framework Development & Enablement 

• Create enterprise standards, tools, and methodologies for organizational design and strategic workforce planning that can be deployed consistently across WD 

• Build organizational design and workforce planning capabilities in HR business partners and people leaders through training, coaching, and hands-on facilitation 

• Establish governance processes and decision frameworks that ensure organizational changes are data-driven and strategically sound 

Execution & Advisory 

• Partner directly with senior HR business partners to diagnose organizational effectiveness challenges and design fit-for-purpose solutions 

• Lead high-visibility organizational design projects that restructure teams, clarify accountabilities, and optimize spans of control 

• Serve as primary designer and project lead on enterprise-wide organizational development and effectiveness initiatives with significant business impact 

Data-Driven Insights 

• Partner with Workforce Analytics to translate workforce data into actionable insights on organizational health, talent distribution, and structural efficiency 

• Develop dashboards and reporting mechanisms that give leaders visibility into workforce composition, turnover risk, and readiness for future needs 

• Apply evidence-based approaches to test and validate organizational design decisions before implementation 

Minimum Qualifications 

• 5+ years of progressive experience in organizational design and strategic workforce planning, ideally in complex, matrixed environments 

• 7+ years leading enterprise-wide organizational development and effectiveness initiatives with measurable business impact 

• Demonstrated expertise across multiple OD disciplines: organizational design, workforce planning, team effectiveness and change management. 

Skills & Capabilities 

• Exceptional business acumen with ability to connect organizational design decisions to financial outcomes and operational performance 

• Advanced project management skills with track record of delivering complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives on time 

• Strong analytical and systems thinking abilities; comfortable working with workforce data and translating it into strategic recommendations 

Influence & Collaboration 

• Proven ability to facilitate difficult conversations and build consensus among senior stakeholders with competing priorities 

• Executive presence and credibility to advise senior leaders on sensitive organizational topics 

• Thrives in ambiguity—able to move forward when parameters are unclear, information is incomplete, or priorities are shifting, while bringing structure and clarity to complex situations 

• Skilled at working across functions (HRBP, Talent, Total Rewards, Analytics, Finance, Legal) to deliver integrated solutions 

• Collaborator who can navigate ambiguity and drive clarity in complex organizational environments 

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 (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, 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. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. 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.

Western Digital is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at [email protected] to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be 03/19/2026 (3 months from posting), although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline. If we are not able to hire someone from this role before the application deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated application deadline.

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Compensation & Benefits Details

• An employee’s pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
• The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting.  We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York.  This range may be modified in the future.
• If your position is non-exempt, you are eligible for overtime pay pursuant to company policy and applicable laws.  You may also be eligible for shift differential pay, depending on the shift to which you are assigned.

• You will be eligible to be considered for bonuses under either Western Digital’s Short Term Incentive Plan (“STI Plan”) or the Sales Incentive Plan (“SIP”) which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance, depending on your role and your performance. You may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to Western Digital’s Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards.

• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including 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; and the Western Digital Savings 401(k) Plan.
• Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.

Notice To Candidates: Please be aware that Western Digital and its subsidiaries will never request payment as a condition for applying for a position or receiving an offer of employment. Should you encounter any such requests, please report it immediately to Western Digital Ethics Helpline or email [email protected].