Lead Software Engineer - Ad Platforms

Job ID 10115692 Location Santa Monica, California, United States / Glendale, California, United States / Seattle, Washington, United States Business Disney Entertainment Date posted Mar. 24, 2025

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Job Summary:

Disney Entertainment & ESPN Product & Technology

On any given day at Disney Entertainment & ESPN Product & Technology (DEEP&T), we’re reimagining ways to create magical viewing experiences for the world’s most beloved stories while also transforming Disney’s media business for the future. Whether that’s evolving our streaming and digital products in new and immersive ways, powering worldwide advertising and distribution to maximize flexibility and efficiency, or delivering Disney’s unmatched entertainment and sports content, every day is a moment to make a difference to partners and to hundreds of millions of people around the world.

A few reasons why we think you’d love working for Disney Entertainment & ESPN Product & Technology

Building the future of Disney’s media business: DE&E Technologists are designing and building the infrastructure that will power Disney’s media, advertising, and distribution businesses for years to come.
Reach & Scale: The products and platforms this group builds and operates delight millions of consumers every minute of every day – from Disney+ and Hulu, to ABC News and Entertainment, to ESPN and ESPN+, and much more.
Innovation: We develop and execute groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and enhance how audiences experience sports, entertainment & news.

Job Summary

Ad Serving Engineering organization within Disney Entertainment and ESPN organization is fully responsible for building, enhancing and maintaining the high-performance, distributed, microservice-based Digital Advertising Platform. The platform is charged with the qualification, delivery, and tracking of Digital Advertising campaigns (Video on Demand, Live TV, and innovative interactive ads) across all of Disney online properties, including Hulu and ESPN+.

In addition, Ad Serving teams collaborate in the development of supporting components, such as anti-ad fatigue systems, impression counting pipelines, and ad experience flows. We also work on integrations with critical services responsible for the correct pacing, targeting, and selection of ads.

As a Lead Software Engineer of our team, you will apply your knowledge and skills to help us deliver scalable, performant, maintainable, and testable software.

On a daily basis you should bring:

A willingness and desire to effectively communicate and collaborate across teams and systems.
Demonstrated ownership for the projects delivered by your team and department
Knowledge of system design and implementation best practices to guide and mentor
A passion for mentoring, learning, and adapting to a very dynamic and fast paced environment
A proven ability to work with product teams to translate requirements into well-defined technical implementations, as well as the ability to define technical and operational metrics to measure system health
A keen eye for potential optimizations and enhancements to our services
Kindness and pragmatic optimism.
Your unique view and experience

Responsibilities

Writing and reviewing a lot of code and tests
Available for a weekly-rotating On-Call support schedule
Reading requirements documentation from Product and translating into implementation tickets, and leading the team through execution
Defining, reviewing, and documenting software and system designs in a high throughput, low latency microservices environment
Enhancing systems’ observability with proper metrics, monitors and alerts
Delegating tasks to team members, when needed.

Basic Qualifications

BS or MS in Computer Science / Engineering or relevant work experience
7+ years of software engineering experience
Advanced proficiency with Java, such as understanding heap, multi-threading, profiling
Demonstrable analytical / problem solving skills
Great communication, collaboration skills and a strong teamwork ethic with both technical and non-technical audiences

Preferred Qualifications

Comprehensive experience with:

SpringBoot and related Spring projects
Non-relational database technologies e.g. DynamoDB
Redis and/or MemCache
Apache Kafka and/or Kinesis
AWS or other cloud platform
Terraform, Docker and Kubernetes
Ad Tech industry

Additional Information

#DISNEYTECH

The hiring range for this position in Los Angeles, CA is $152,000 - $204,100 per year, in Seattle, WA is $159,500-$213,900, and in San Francisco, CA is $166,800-$223,600. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.

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About Disney Entertainment:

At Disney Corporate you can see how the businesses behind the Company’s powerful brands come together to create the most innovative, far-reaching and admired entertainment company in the world. As a member of a corporate team, you’ll work with world-class leaders driving the strategies that keep The Walt Disney Company at the leading edge of entertainment. See and be seen by other innovative thinkers as you enable the greatest storytellers in the world to create memories for millions of families around the globe.

About The Walt Disney Company:

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise that includes three core business segments: Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Experiences. From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to its preeminent name in the entertainment industry today, Disney proudly continues its legacy of creating world-class stories and experiences for every member of the family. Disney’s stories, characters and experiences reach consumers and guests from every corner of the globe. With operations in more than 40 countries, our employees and cast members work together to create entertainment experiences that are both universally and locally cherished.

This position is with Disney Streaming Technology LLC, which is part of a business we call Disney Entertainment.

Disney Streaming Technology LLC is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, military or veteran status, medical condition, genetic information or disability, or any other basis prohibited by federal, state or local law. Disney champions a business environment where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a constantly evolving world.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION FOR EMPLOYMENT APPLICATIONS

The Walt Disney Company and its Affiliated Companies are Equal Employment Opportunity employers and welcome all job seekers including individuals with disabilities and veterans with disabilities. If you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation in order to search for a job opening or apply for a position, visit the Disney candidate disability accommodations FAQs. We will only respond to those requests that are related to the accessibility of the online application system due to a disability.

Having technical issues? View the FAQs for help.

Hiring Process

Where Does Your Story Begin?

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The Next Chapter

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Explore this Location Santa Monica, CA

Basking in sunshine 280 days of the year and located just 20 minutes west of Downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica is a walkable oasis teeming with outdoor adventures, luxury wellness spas and opportunities to kick back under blue skies and awe-inspiring sunsets.