Director, Employee Relations (US & EMEA)

Company Description

WD is building the infrastructure behind the AI-driven data economy.

As AI scales, so does data. Every interaction, every model, every system generates data that must be stored, managed, and made accessible over time. That’s where we come in.

We combine deep engineering expertise with global-scale manufacturing to deliver the storage systems that make AI possible, powering hyperscale data centers, cloud platforms, and enterprise infrastructure worldwide.

This isn’t theoretical work. It’s real systems, at real scale, people solving some of the hardest challenges in technology today.

We’re looking for people who want to build, solve, and operate at that level.

Join us and let’s shape the future of data.

Job Description

The Global Employee Relations Team supports WD ensuring consistency and reducing compliance risks in our employment practices and policies worldwide. The ER Team partners closely with the regional people solutions representatives, HR Centers of Excellence, Ethics and Compliance and Employment Law to review, advise, and investigate workplace concerns and ensure Western Digital’s employees are treated fairly.

We are looking for a Director with a demonstrated passion for building innovative new programs and teams focused on creating and maintaining a positive employee experience for our employees worldwide. Our team is responsible for reducing risk to the business by developing programs to empower the next generation of high-performing, empathetic leaders. The Director must have a fierce commitment to equality and excel in pursuing fairness for all. 

As the Director, Employee Relations, you will grow coaching and investigations capabilities on the team while ensuring governance and due diligence to minimize risk. You will partner closely with your regional peers and HR Technology to automate, streamline and globalize existing processes.  You will serve as a key driver in Western Digital’s high performance culture transformation ensuring alignment with our talent philosophy and effective support for our people leaders.

The Director will help build a forward-thinking team that proactively identifies and acts in areas of opportunity. You will work cross-functionally to bring deep subject matter expertise to people processes and help build a roadmap for Employee Relations and Labor Relations programs and policies. This position reports to the Global Sr. Director for Employee Relations and HR Compliance.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Develop and lead a highly skilled group of ER Partners
• Responsible for defining and executing the ER strategy in the region, providing consulting, support and direction for the ER function in the United States and EMEA.​
• Act as the primary HR leader engaged in regional labor relations and works council activities.
• Act as the primary point of contact for regional projects/initiatives that have ER implications (including M&A)​
• Serve as the key strategic partner with regional HRBPs and Employment Legal to execute on business strategies while mitigating risk.
• Support investigators in highly sensitive HR and Employee Relations issues, including analyzing data from various internal systems; approving case adjudication; proposing remedial action based on investigation findings; production of thorough investigation documentation.
• Analyze casework trends and produce strategic recommendations to the business to proactively address systemic issues.
• Collaborate, Coach and Influence Leaders on critical elements of compliance, investigations outcomes and other ER matters.
• Stay current on with business trends, HR and ER trends, employment law and the diversity and inclusion landscapes.
• Ensure operational excellence and develop a high-performance team.
• Work directly with internal and external partners to ensure a respectful and inclusive workplace culture
• Serve as a key partner with the Sr. Director to lead global Employee Relations programs, including but not limited to training, manager toolkits, process automation, program support, data analysis and more.

Qualifications

Required:

• 10+ years of experience in Human Resources
• 3+ years leading complex investigations
• 5+ years of leadership experience, developing high performing teams
• This role may require approximately 15% travel. 
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, demonstrating an ability to earn trust, dive deep and work successfully on a broad spectrum of employee and labor relations issues and business challenges.
• Strong project manager, capable of independently owning large-scale, enterprise-wide projects
• Demonstrates an inclusive leadership style and a commitment to equality
• Experience working in a global company leading cross-functional regional and global projects of significant scope, complexity, and of a highly sensitive nature.
• Demonstrated success leading programs and driving process improvements
• High attention to detail including precise and effective customer communications and proven ability to manage multiple, competing priorities simultaneously.
• Effectively manages stakeholders across all levels of an organization
• Able to demonstrate sound judgment even in ambiguous or stressful situations.
• Able to identify and anticipate client needs and make recommendations for implementation
• The ability to understand business goals and recommend new approaches, policies, and procedures to drive continuous improvement
• Robust understanding of key HR concepts and practices (employment law, compliance, engagement, retention, and performance)
• With international activities, conference calls in the early morning or late evenings are a normal course of business. Flexibility on both your part and the company’s is expected.
• Many activities within your organization are highly sensitive in nature and will require discretion.
• Experience in a manufactory environment a plus

Salary Range: 184,500.00-246,000.00

Additional Information

WD 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.

WD 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.

WD 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 jobs.accommodations@wdc.com 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 6/30/26, 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 WD’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 WD'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 WD 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 WD 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 WD Ethics Helpline or email compliance@wdc.com.