Principal Software Engineer

Job ID 10106695 Location Santa Monica, California, United States / Bristol, Connecticut, United States / New York, New York, United States Business Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology Date posted Dec. 06, 2024

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Job Summary:

Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology

On any given day at Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology (DEET), 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 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.

The Search, Experience Management, & Images (SEMI) org within DEET collectively serves as the source of truth for experience curation, image delivery, in-app search, content enhancement, and localization. We have a collaborative culture that encourages technical ownership, knowledge sharing, and professional development. We build innovative and cutting-edge capabilities that drive subscriber engagement and monetization across Disney's streaming and digital products.

Job Summary:

The Experience Management sub-org within SEMI is hiring a Principal Software Engineer to enhance and support the Experience Platform for Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, and the other streaming services we support. We are looking for a Principal Engineer to lead high level architecture, coding best practices, systems integrations discussions across other engineering teams, and drive engineering initiatives that support Disney’s enhanced experience curation, and localization. You will be a key member of the engineering leadership team and work directly with the Sr. Engineering Manager and Engineering Managers across multiple teams in SEMI. Our organization is responsible for building tools & services that drive dynamic configuration, localization and curation of content across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN. The work you do directly affects our business’ programming, engagement, and monetization goals.

The ideal candidate is looking to multiply the efficiency, architecture and culture of our organization by aspiring to leave things better than they find them. They excel in communication, multi-tasking and context-switching across several crucial engineering domains. They have a strong background in operational excellence and building observable platforms. There are three primary engineering domains teams this role will lead technically.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

Drive operational excellence in the organization’s engineering services
Work with engineering leadership, product, engineering and technical program management across the lifecycle of an initiative
Contribute code to our repositories in support of product and technical initiatives
Promote clean coding standards and introduce new technology where it could benefit our systems and utilities
Drive a metrics and test-oriented mindset for our software
End-to-end ownership of systems: Ideate, review design, mentor during build, code-review, test, load-test, launch and monitor performance in production
Mentor engineers across the organization’s domains and introduce proven best practices in a consistent manner across teams
Lead architectural and design discussions to help the teams build robust and scalable services in a microservices architecture
Provide transparent communication to engineering leadership and stakeholders

Basic Qualifications:

10+ years of experience in software engineering, with a focus on building well-designed architecture, shipping robust code, and contributing to a positive team environment
Demonstrated success working as a full-stack staff or principal engineer of meaningful & sophisticated internal tools and API services for 3+ years
Demonstrated success in being part of a team problem-solving, designing and implementing software at scale
Mentorship experience & a desire to help your fellow engineers get better at what they do
Experience leading meaningful changes to align teams with industry best practices
Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with experience presenting and explaining complex technical ideas to peers and leadership
Ability to handle context-switching and supporting multiple priorities in parallel
Experience with: Java, Kubernetes, AWS, Web Applications
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience

Preferred Qualifications:

Hands-on experience with any of: Java, TypeScript, NodeJS, Docker
Experience with Machine Translation (MT), AI, ML, LLMs
Experience presenting at internal/external conferences
Proficiency with AWS or other cloud services provider

The hiring range for this position in Santa Monica, CA is $184,300 - $247,100, for New York, NY is $193,100 - $258,900. 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 & ESPN Technology:

Disney Entertainment and ESPN Technology (DE&E Technology) provides the technological backbone and product development for Disney’s two media business units, while helping to keep the company at the vanguard of innovation – enabling the Company to continuously leverage technology to enhance storytelling and creativity, while delivering scalability, flexibility, and efficiency for its businesses.

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 & ESPN Technology.

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, email Candidate.Accommodations@Disney.com with your request. This email address is not for general employment inquiries or correspondence. We will only respond to those requests that are related to the accessibility of the online application system due to a disability.

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