Principal Project Manager - Head Recording R&D Systems Lead; Onsite

Position: Principal Project Manager - Head Recording R&D Systems Lead (Onsite)
About our group:

We are seeking a Principal Engineer to provide technical leadership and architectural ownership for systems supporting advanced hard disk drive (HDD) recording research and development. This onsite role partners closely with recording technology teams across wafer, design, process, and integration, enabling efficient experimentation, data-driven development, and accelerated innovation.

This role has a strong focus on AI-enabled recording development, including simulation, characterization, analytics, and automation. The successful candidate is a senior technologist with deep systems expertise, capable of operating at the intersection of recording physics, software platforms, data infrastructure, and lab environments, and influencing across organizations through technical excellence.

About the role - you will:

Recording R&D Systems Architecture:

* Own the technical architecture, system design, and roadmap alignment for R&D systems supporting recording technology development.

* Ensure systems effectively support head, media, servo, and recording path experimentation.

* Design recording head and test systems that enable rapid experimentation while maintaining data integrity, traceability, and repeatability.

* Drive technical integration across laboratory tools, R&D platforms, data systems, and enterprise applications.

* Act as the technical authority for system tradeoffs, scalability decisions, and architectural evolution.

AI and Advanced Analytics Enablement:

* Lead the technical enablement of AI and advanced analytics within recording development workflows.

* Architect and evolve data pipelines for characterization, test, and simulation data.

* Enable AI/ML applications such as trend detection, anomaly analysis, yield correlation, and model-based optimization.

* Work directly with recording engineers to identify, prototype, and harden high-value AI use cases.

* Guide the transition of AI solutions from exploratory prototypes to sustained R&D usage.

Onsite Technical

Collaboration:

* Work onsite with recording, design, and test teams to understand real-world engineering workflows and system constraints.

* Travel as needed to R&D labs, development sites, and manufacturing partners to support system deployment and optimization.

* Ensure alignment and continuity across recording R&D, operations, and manufacturing data systems.

Technical Leadership and Influence:

* Provide senior technical leadership, design reviews, and mentorship to engineers and system contributors.

* Establish and influence standards, best practices, and design principles for R&D systems, data management, and AI integration.

* Influence direction across teams and organizations through technical credibility rather than formal authority.

* Serve as a recognized technical expert in recording R&D systems and analytics.

Operational Excellence:

* Ensure reliability, performance, scalability, and security of systems supporting recording development.

* Define and track key R&D system metrics such as experiment cycle time, data availability, and analysis latency.

* Lead root-cause analysis and resolution of complex system and integration issues.

* Partner with vendors providing lab equipment, data platforms, analytics tools, and AI technologies.

Strategy and Governance:

* Contribute to long-term recording R&D and enterprise systems strategy.

* Technically evaluate and recommend investments in data infrastructure, simulation platforms, and AI-enabling technologies.

* Balance innovation speed with requirements for IP protection, data governance, and security.

About you:

* Excellent communication skills for collaboration with recording, process, and design engineers

* Ability to provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance to engineers and system contributors

* Ability to influence across organizations through technical credibility rather than formal authority

Your experience includes:

* Supporting complex technical or R&D systems

* Working in disk drive, storage technology, or recording adjacent environments

* Understanding system architecture, data flows, and integration patterns

* Working knowledge of AI/ML concepts applied to engineering, test, or analytics workflows

* Willingness and ability to work onsite and travel as required

* Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or related technical field and 15+ years of experience; or 12 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with 8 years of experience; or equivalent experience

You might also have:

* Direct experience in disk drive recording development wafers, (heads, media, slider and HGA)

* Familiarity with lab automation, characterization systems, or test data environments

* Experience enabling AI or advanced analytics for engineering or manufacturing correlation

* Experience moving solutions from R&D into manufacturing

* Leveraging manufacturing systems to accelerate R&D

Salary:
The estimated base salary range for this position is $ - $. The individual salary is based on work location and…