Engineer/Chemist — Chemical Laboratory
Western Digital
- Location
- Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia
- Employment
- Full Time
- Work model
- On-Site
- Level
- Mid
- Posted
- 1h ago
About this role
Engineer/Chemist — Chemical Laboratory Full-time Job Type (exemption status): Exempt position - Please see related compensation & benefits details below Business Function: Quality Assurance Engineering Work Location: Bayan Lepas PN2--LOC_WDT_MY0704 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 Chemical Laboratory ECT supports the Quality Assurance Analytical Laboratory through applied analytical chemistry knowledge and technical oversight. The ECT is expected to possess a strong theoretical and practical understanding of GCMS and IC analytical principles, to verify results, investigate anomalies, support instrument troubleshooting, and contribute to laboratory quality activities. This role is designed to develop a technically competent analytical chemist within a high-throughput manufacturing quality environment.
Key Responsibilities
Analytical Chemistry — Theory & Principles Understand how column polarity, stationary phase chemistry, carrier gas flow, and oven temperature programming govern analyte retention time and chromatographic resolution in GCMS, and how analyte ions interact with the ion exchange resin based on ionic charge, size, and eluent competition in IC. Understand the differences between split, splitless, and headspace injection techniques for GCMS sample introduction, and apply knowledge of IC eluent systems and suppression-based conductivity detection. Understand electron ionization (EI) fragmentation mechanisms and how resulting mass spectra are matched against spectral libraries (e.g., NIST) for compound identification in GCMS, and how chemical suppression reduces eluent background conductivity to enhance analyte signal in IC. Interpret total ion chromatograms (TIC) and extracted ion chromatograms (EIC/SIM) for GCMS, and IC chromatograms for correct peak identification by retention time matching and quantification against multi-level external calibration standards. Understand external and internal standard calibration approaches and apply linearity, LOD, LOQ, and SD as method performance indicators across both GCMS and IC analytical methods. Recognize common analytical issues in both instruments, including ghost peaks, column bleed, peak tailing, split peaks, and sensitivity loss in GCMS, and system peaks, ionic co-elution, suppressor breakthrough, and baseline instability in IC — and understand their chemical origins and impact on data quality. Routine Analysis — Technical Oversight Review technician-generated results against method acceptance criteria, calibration validity windows, and system suitability benchmarks such as recovery check, trend chart monitoring, and calibration R². Investigate OOS (Out-of-Specification) and OOT (Out-of-Trend) results by applying chemistry knowledge to assess probable analytical or process-related causes before escalate findings through the appropriate quality chain. Support root cause analysis of ambiguous or anomalous chromatographic results, distinguishing between sample matrix effects, instrument performance issues, and genuine process contamination signals. Participate in method familiarization runs alongside the technician to observe how theoretical principles translate into real instrument responses and chromatographic behavior. Maintain a thorough