Deputy Chief Compliance Officer

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 Deputy Chief Compliance Officer serves as the Chief Compliance Officer’s principal deputy and is responsible for overseeing the operational execution of the company’s global Ethics & Compliance program. This executive oversees the day-to-day management of core compliance functions, ensuring that programs operate effectively, consistently, and in alignment with legal requirements, regulatory expectations, and the company’s values.

The Deputy Chief Compliance Officer provides strategic and operational oversight of compliance operations, investigations, anti-corruption compliance, ethics reporting, employee training, and compliance communications while helping build and sustain a culture of integrity across the organization. The role serves as the Chief Compliance Officer’s delegate on key initiatives and governance activities and oversees a high-performing compliance team.

Experience in international trade compliance, privacy, data protection, and artificial intelligence governance is highly desirable.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Compliance Operations and Program Management

• Oversee the day-to-day operation of the global Ethics & Compliance program.
• Translate compliance strategy into operational plans, measurable objectives, and effective execution.
• Develop and manage annual compliance work plans, budgets, metrics, and performance dashboards.
• Establish clear roles, processes, service expectations, and accountability across the compliance team.
• Drive continuous improvement across compliance processes, technology, reporting, and governance.
• Establish scalable processes that support business growth and evolving regulatory expectations.
• Coordinate compliance risk assessments, program reviews, monitoring, testing, and remediation activities.
• Prepare executive and Board-level compliance reports and presentations.
• Serve as the Chief Compliance Officer’s delegate on designated committees, initiatives, and leadership matters.

Ethics Reporting and Whistleblower Program

Oversee the company’s global ethics reporting and whistleblower program, including:

• Ethics hotline, web-based reporting, and other speak-up channels.
• Case intake, assessment, triage, assignment, escalation, and closure.
• Case-management systems, processes, documentation, and quality standards.
• Oversight of hotline and case-management vendors.
• Reporting analytics, trend identification, and root-cause analysis.
• Speak-up culture initiatives and employee awareness.
• Retaliation prevention, monitoring, and response.
• Confidentiality, data privacy, and regulatory reporting requirements.
• Reporting of significant matters to senior leadership and appropriate Board committees.
• Ensure that concerns are handled promptly, objectively, consistently, confidentially, and in accordance with company policy and applicable law.

Investigations

Oversee the global compliance investigations function, including investigations involving:

• Code of Conduct violations.
• Bribery and corruption.
• Fraud, theft, and financial misconduct.
• Conflicts of interest.
• Retaliation.
• Third-party misconduct.
• Books-and-records or internal-controls concerns.
• Misuse of company assets or information.
• Trade, privacy, data, or technology-related compliance concerns, as appropriate.
• Other significant legal, ethical, or reputational risks.

Additional responsibilities include:

• Establish investigation protocols, documentation requirements, and quality standards.
• Ensure appropriate independence, objectivity, confidentiality, and consistency.
• Oversee internal investigators, cross-functional investigation teams, and outside counsel.
• Ensure investigations are timely, thorough, well documented, and defensible.
• Coordinate with Human Resources, Legal, Internal Audit, Security, and other functions.
• Identify root causes, systemic issues, and appropriate corrective actions.
• Promote consistent disciplinary and remediation practices.
• Present significant matters to executive leadership and Board committees, as appropriate.
• Track investigation trends and use findings to improve policies, controls, training, and organizational culture.

Anti-Corruption Compliance

Oversee the company’s global anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance program, including:

• Compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, UK Bribery Act, and other applicable anti-corruption laws.
• Gifts, meals, travel, entertainment, and hospitality controls.
• Interactions with government officials and state-owned enterprises.
• Charitable contributions, political contributions, sponsorships, and community investments.
• Third-party anti-corruption due diligence, contracting, monitoring, and remediation.
• Anti-corruption risk assessments.
• Books-and-records and internal-controls requirements.
• Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and other transaction-related anti-corruption diligence and integration.
• Risk-based monitoring and testing of anti-corruption controls.
• Investigation and remediation of potential anti-corruption concerns.

Partner with Legal, Finance, Internal Audit, Procurement, Sales, Human Resources, and business leaders to identify, assess, and mitigate corruption risks globally.

Compliance Training and Communications

Oversee the company’s ethics and compliance education and communications strategy, including:

• Annual Code of Conduct training.
• Risk-based compliance training.
• Anti-corruption training.
• Manager and leadership education.
• Investigator and case-management training.
• Speak-up and non-retaliation communications.
• New employee onboarding.
• Policy launches and targeted communications.
• Compliance awareness campaigns.
• Training for higher-risk functions, geographies, and employee populations.

Oversee the development of practical, engaging, accessible, and measurable learning experiences that strengthen ethical decision-making and help employees understand how compliance requirements apply to their work.

Establish metrics to evaluate training completion, employee understanding, behavioral impact, and opportunities for improvement.

Team Operations and Oversight

• Oversee the operations, performance, and development of the compliance team.
• Establish clear objectives, priorities, performance expectations, and accountability.
• Support team capability building, professional development, and succession planning.
• Promote collaboration across regional and functional teams.
• Allocate resources according to risk and business priorities.
• Foster a culture of integrity, inclusion, accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Support the Chief Compliance Officer in organizational planning and talent development across the broader compliance function.

Cross-Functional Leadership

Partner closely with:

• Legal.
• International Trade Compliance.
• Privacy and Data Protection.
• Artificial Intelligence and Data Governance.
• Internal Audit.
• Human Resources.
• Finance.
• Information Security.
• Corporate Security.
• Enterprise Risk Management.
• Procurement.
• Internal Communications.
• Government Affairs.
• Business and regional leadership.

Serve as a trusted advisor on ethics and compliance matters and help promote coordinated governance across legal, regulatory, data, technology, and enterprise-risk functions.

Support for Adjacent Governance Areas

Although the role’s principal responsibilities are compliance operations, training, the whistleblower program, investigations, and anti-corruption, the Deputy Chief Compliance Officer may also support the Chief Compliance Officer in adjacent areas, including:

• International trade compliance, export controls, sanctions, customs, and antiboycott matters.
• Privacy and data-protection governance.
• Artificial intelligence and responsible AI governance.
• Data governance and emerging technology risk.
• Cross-functional regulatory risk assessments.
• Governance committees and enterprise-wide risk initiatives.
• Coordination among legal, compliance, privacy, security, data, and technology stakeholders.

The level of responsibility in these areas will depend on the successful candidate’s experience and the evolving needs of the organization.

Governance, Metrics, and Reporting

• Develop meaningful compliance key performance indicators and key risk indicators.
• Provide regular program updates to executive leadership.
• Support reporting to the Board of Directors and appropriate Board committees.
• Monitor regulatory developments, enforcement trends, and emerging compliance risks.
• Oversee compliance documentation, recordkeeping, and evidence of program effectiveness.
• Support periodic compliance program assessments and benchmarking.
• Use hotline, investigation, training, monitoring, and other data to identify trends and recommend improvements.
• Assist the Chief Compliance Officer in establishing an integrated view of compliance and regulatory risk

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; Juris Doctor or other relevant advanced degree preferred.
• At least 12 years of progressively responsible experience in ethics and compliance, legal, investigations, risk management, or a related field.
• Significant experience overseeing or managing a global or multinational compliance program.
• Demonstrated experience in:
• Compliance program operations.
• Corporate investigations.
• Ethics reporting and whistleblower systems.
• Anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance.
• Compliance training and communications.
• Program metrics, governance, and executive reporting.
• Experience managing and developing compliance professionals.
• Strong executive presence, judgment, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and collaborate across functions and geographies.
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential matters with discretion and objectivity.
• Experience managing complex projects and translating strategy into execution.
• Daily presence (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday) in office; periodically on Tuesday or Friday. This is not a remote role.

Preferred Qualifications

• Juris Doctor, master’s degree, or other relevant advanced degree.
• Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional, Certified Fraud Examiner, or comparable professional certification.
• Experience in a multinational technology, manufacturing, or other highly regulated company.
• Experience working with executive leadership, Boards of Directors, or Board committees.
• Familiarity with the U.S. Department of Justice’s guidance on the evaluation of corporate compliance programs, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other recognized compliance frameworks.
• Experience with international trade compliance, including export controls, economic sanctions, customs, or antiboycott requirements.
• Experience with privacy, data protection, or data governance programs.
• Experience with artificial intelligence governance, responsible AI, algorithmic risk, or emerging technology compliance.
• Experience coordinating across compliance, legal, trade, privacy, information security, data, and technology functions.
• Familiarity with compliance technology, case-management systems, data analytics, automation, and technology-enabled monitoring.

Additional Information

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

WD 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.

WD 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.

WD 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 09/8/2026 (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.

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.
• If your position is non-exempt, you are eligible for overtime pay pursuant to company policy and applicable laws.  You may also be eligible for shift differential pay, depending on the shift to which you are assigned.

• You will be eligible to be considered for bonuses under either WD’s Short Term Incentive Plan (“STI Plan”) or the Sales Incentive Plan (“SIP”) 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 WD'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 WD 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.

Notice To Candidates: Please be aware that WD and its subsidiaries will never request payment as a condition for applying for a position or receiving an offer of employment. Should you encounter any such requests, please report it immediately to WD Ethics Helpline or email compliance@wdc.com.