Sr. Director, DEX Technology Architecture

Sr. Director, DEX Technology Architecture Full-time Job Type (exemption status): Exempt position - Please see related compensation & benefits details below Salary Range: 224,500.00-299,300.00 Business Function: Information Technology Work Location: San Jose Great Oaks Headquarters--LOC_WDT_USCA23 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.

Position Summary The Sr. Director, DEX Technology Architecture is the architectural conscience of the Digital Employee Experience (DEX) organization. This role exists to keep every buy-vs-build decision, AI investment, and platform choice tied to a coherent, durable technology strategy rather than to siloed, point-in-time decisions. Reporting into the VP of IT DEX with direct alignment to the CTO, this leader partners with HR and IT stakeholders to translate business capability needs into sound architectural choices, governs the organization's growing AI and agentic workflow footprint, and ensures new investment never outruns the discipline to fix, stabilize, and simplify what already exists. This is a hands-on architecture leadership role, not a pure strategy seat: the successful candidate will personally evaluate vendors and proofs of concept, set enforceable engineering and data standards, and be fluent enough in modern AI, cloud, and integration patterns to challenge vendors and internal teams alike.

Architecture Strategy & CTO Alignment Serve as the primary architectural counterpart to the CTO organization, ensuring DEX technology decisions are consistent with enterprise architecture standards, security posture, and long-term platform direction. Own the DEX reference architecture spanning HCM, talent, learning, payroll, timekeeping, and employee service platforms, and keep it current as the portfolio evolves. Prevent siloed or one-off technology decisions by acting as the connective layer between HR capability owners, program delivery leads, and enterprise IT/security. Translate multi-year DEX roadmap priorities into an architectural point of view that program and product teams can execute against. Buy vs. Build Governance Define and operationalize a repeatable, rigorous buy-vs-build decision framework, and act as the final architectural gate before new vendor engagements or build efforts are approved. Apply and evolve DEX's core decision tenets on every evaluation: Frugality — require a durable, minimum 3-year value window before any new spend is approved. Build preference — default to building or configuring within existing platforms where feasible; shortcuts such as RPA are acceptable only when adopted intentionally, not as a substitute for a real fix. No orphaned technology — evaluate the total cost of ownership and adoption path so tools are not abandoned shortly after purchase. Fix-before-build — confirm that existing capability has genuinely been exhausted or is structurally broken before approving net-new investment. Establish and run structured, low-cost proof-of-concept (POC) governance for the growing volume of AI and point-solution vendor pitches, including data-access review, success criteria, and defined exit conditions before any POC is greenlit. Own vendor and platform evaluation scorecards, and present buy-vs-build recommendations with clear