Job Description

Western Digital seeks a best-in-class Vice President, Total Rewards for the standalone HDD business at Western Digital. A unique opportunity to establish the function at scale, the Vice President, Total Rewards will report to Katie Watson, the go-forward Chief Human Resources Officer for the business. This executive will be a key member of the HR leadership team and critical contributor to Western Digital’s overall strategy and direction. The Vice President, Total Rewards will be a thought leader, designer, and communicator of Western Digital’s Rewards programs, including the company’s performance recognition philosophy and mechanisms. Beyond establishing the vision for Western Digital’s total rewards philosophy, this leader will lead the design and program governance of the company’s compensation, equity, recognition, and benefits programs to align with the strategic goals and culture of the organization. Beyond having the responsibility for the strategic and design aspect of the role, the leader will also have the responsibility for the operational execution of all matters under his/her scope of responsibility through both the corporate and regional centers of expertise (COE), which report direct line into this role.

The Vice President, Total Rewards will work closely with HR, Legal, Finance and business leaders to drive the efforts to design and implement enterprise solutions at scale. This leader will help create and execute strategies to build a high performing HR organization, including Total Rewards, a talented leadership team, an engaged team of motivated employees and the identification of the next generation of talent for Western Digital. Finally, the Vice President, Total Rewards will work very closely with the Board’s Compensation Committee as a key strategic advisor, partnering with the Committee’s Compensation Consultant.

Core responsibilities will include:

▪ Lead the strategy, design, operational execution, communication and administration of Western Digital’s compensation, equity, recognition, benefits, mobility and HR M&A programs and activities, including annual and long-term incentives, equity incentives, executive compensation and recognition

▪ Provide leadership to Western Digital’s job architecture program, ensuring that all salary programs, merit budgets and salary structures have market pricing at their core and are aligned with Western Digital’s overall philosophy

▪ Develop strategies to drive employee awareness and understanding of all compensation, recognition, and benefit programs; align as appropriate to Western Digital’s Talent Philosophy

▪ Lead all components of board level materials, presentations and recommendations related to Total Rewards, including direct ownership for the Proxy’s CD&A as well as all total rewards-related governance matters

▪ Responsible for the executive reward agenda, leads, and brings innovation to Executive compensation plan design. Acts as a strategic and trusted advisor on Executive compensation matters to senior leadership across the organization. Establishes credibility & confidence to enable practical and thoughtful engagement with the Compensation Committee, Executive team and leadership

▪ Monitor external trends and benchmarks. Proactively adjust total reward programs to stay competitive in the market; drive additional total rewards benefits harmonization outside the United States

▪ Ensure compensation, recognition, benefits and equity programs are both innovatively and equitably designed and then consistently applied

▪ Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure optimal integrations with enterprise goal setting and metric development, performance, and talent management systems

▪ Develop deep relationships with leaders across the organization, HR Business Partners, and Talent Acquisition to help understand how total rewards is impacting Western Digital’s ability to attract the best talent

▪ Grow talent capability and bench strength within Total Rewards to enables stronger leadership succession

▪ Lead rewards related strategy and execution of People Reporting & partner effectively with the Analytics function to drive mature, data-driven conclusions and decisions across the organization at scale

▪ Responsible for all HR matters related to M&A, including leading teams’ efforts for due diligence reviews of M&A targets all the way through integration of compensation, pension, benefits and other HR systems of acquired companies

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will be a proven Total Rewards leader who has led a compensation, benefits and HR M&A teams at a multibillion-dollar, global public company. They will have excellent credentials and experience in compensation, benefits, and wellness. This individual will have previous experience designing and administering executive and innovative rewards programs and partnered closely with a Board of Directors.

They will have a career defined by a keen understanding of the competitive environment for attracting, developing, and retaining talent, as well as a deep knowledge of regulatory, compliance, legislative and market issues and trends and policy implications related to compensation. The ideal candidate will have experience scaling and maturing the Total Rewards function.

The Vice President, Total Rewards will have a collaborative leadership style that relies on excellent influencing and communication skills when developing and executing the strategies, programs and practices that create a robust value proposition for the Rewards strategy. They will be a hands-on leader, comfortable wearing many hats, and operating in a lean environment with a desire for ongoing learning, to keep Western Digital at the forefront of trends across executive compensation and the broader total rewards function.

Qualifications and Business Acumen

• Relevant experience in developing, managing, and leading compensation and benefit programs, including executive compensation, broad based compensation, and employee benefits.
• Experience leading Total Rewards organizations through times of transformation; leadership through M&A activity, divestitures, spin-offs and carve-outs is strongly preferred
• Superior executive presence with the ability and credibility to present ideas and recommendations at all levels within the organization and to the Executive Leadership team and Board of Directors.
• Grasps complexities and connections among problems or issues, able to prioritize elements that will most drive success.
• Keen analytical capabilities, with the ability to identify and bring forward trends or market gaps in all elements of total rewards programs, as well as risks.
• Exceptional business knowledge, general management, and leadership capability.

In terms of the performance and personal competencies required for the position, we highlight:

Executing for Results

• The ability to set clear and challenging goals while committing Western Digital to operational excellence; tenacious and accountable in driving results.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty; ability to adapt and lead through complex situations.
• A leader who is viewed by others as having a high degree of integrity and forethought in their approach to making decisions; the ability to act in a transparent and consistent manner while always considering what is best for Western Digital.

Leading Teams

• The ability to attract and recruit top talent, motivate the team, delegate effectively, celebrate diversity within the team, and manage performance; widely viewed as a strong developer of others.
• The ability to persevere in the face of challenges and exhibit a steadfast resolve and relentless commitment to higher standards, which commands respect from followers.
• A leader who is self-reflective and aware of their own limitations; leads by example and drives the organization's performance with an attitude of continuous improvement by being open to feedback and self-improvement.

Additional Information

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 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 (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.
• You will be eligible to participate in Western Digital’s Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan, 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.