Chief of Staff - Product Management & Emerging Businesses
Western DigitalSan Jose, CAPosted 7 April 2026
Job Description
WD is seeking a Senior Director, Chief of Staff — Product Management & Emerging Businesses to serve as a strategic and operational partner to the SVP of Product Management and Emerging Businesses. This role acts as an extension of the SVP, driving operational rigor, execution of key initiatives, and cross-functional alignment across the entire organization. This position operates at the center of product, technology, and business decision-making — ensuring that strategy translates into action. The Chief of Staff leads operating cadence, drives accountability across priorities, enables effective decision-making, and ensures alignment of resources, investments, and outcomes. The role serves as a force multiplier for Product leadership by improving execution speed, decision quality, and organizational efficiency. Success in this role requires strong judgment, enterprise-wide perspective, and the ability to lead through influence in a highly matrixed environment. The ideal candidate brings a combination of operational leadership, program execution, financial acumen, and cross-functional collaboration, with experience in engineering, program management, finance, or prior Chief of Staff roles within complex technology organizations.  
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Execution & Initiative Leadership
· Partner with the SVP to translate strategy into executable plans, priorities, and measurable outcomes
· Drive and track high-impact initiatives across Product Management and Emerging Businesses
· Ensure alignment of goals, resources, and timelines across the organization
· Act as a delegate for the SVP to advance initiatives and remove execution barriers  
Product Management Operating System & Cadence
· Own and run the global Product Management operating cadence including QBRs, roadmap reviews, executive checkpoints, and planning cycles
· Establish and maintain operating rigor across planning, execution, and review processes
· Drive accountability for deliverables, timelines, and business outcomes
· Continuously improve processes to increase efficiency, transparency, and speed  
Decision Support & Prioritization
· Enable high-quality decision-making through structured analysis, insights, and executive-ready recommendations
· Help prioritize initiatives and investments based on strategic value, ROI, and resource constraints
· Anticipate risks, identify trade-offs, and recommend actionable solutions
· Ensure decisions are aligned with enterprise objectives and long-term strategy  
Financial, Resource & Workforce Planning
· Partner closely with Finance on budgeting, forecasting, and investment planning
· Monitor performance against financial targets, portfolio investments, and cost structures
· Collaborate with HR on organizational planning, talent strategy, and workforce alignment
· Ensure resources are deployed effectively to support strategic priorities  
KPI & Performance Management
· Establish and track key performance indicators across revenue, margin, execution, and operational health
· Provide visibility into business performance, trends, and areas of risk or opportunity
· Drive a results-oriented culture with clear metrics and accountability
· Ensure consistent reporting and performance management across the organization  
Cross-Functional Leadership & Alignment
· Serve as a central coordination point across Product, Engineering, Firmware, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, HR, and Go-to-Market teams
· Lead cross-functional alignment on key initiatives, roadmap execution, and operational priorities
· Facilitate decision forums and resolve cross-organizational tradeoffs
· Ensure execution is aligned with technology readiness, operational capability, and market needs  
Executive Enablement & Communications
· Optimize the effectiveness, focus, and leverage of the SVP
· Develop executive communications, presentations, and business updates
· Translate compl ... (truncated, view full listing at source)
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