A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head has a protective multilayer confined to a window of the disk-facing surface of the slider that surrounds the near-field transducer (NFT) end and write pole end. The protective multilayer is made up of alternating films of a metal and diamond-like carbon (DLC). All of the metal films are formed of the same metal selected from Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo and W, with the preferred metal being zirconium (Zr). A slider protective overcoat may be formed over the entire disk-facing surface in both the window region and the non-window region, with the protective multilayer formed on the slider overcoat in the window region. The overcoat may be absent in the window region, in which case an adhesion film is on the NFT and write pole ends in the window region, with the protective multilayer being formed on the adhesion film.