A heat-assisted magnetic recording head includes a slider, an edge-emitting laser diode fixed to the slider, and an external mirror provided outside the slider. The slider includes a magnetic pole, a waveguide, a near-field light generating element, and a substrate. The substrate has a top surface facing toward the magnetic pole, the near-field light generating element and the waveguide. The slider has a top surface that lies above the top surface of the substrate, at an end of the slider farther from the top surface of the substrate. The laser diode includes: an active layer; an emitting end face that lies at an end in a direction parallel to the plane of the active layer and includes an emission part for emitting laser light; and a bottom surface that lies at an end in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the active layer. The laser diode is arranged so that the bottom surface faces the top surface of the slider. The external mirror reflects the laser light emitted from the emission part toward the waveguide.