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Principal Software Engineer

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Job ID 10084419 Location San Francisco, California, United States / Bristol, Connecticut, United States / Santa Monica, California, United States / New York, New York, United States / Seattle, Washington, United States Business Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology Date posted Mar. 26, 2024

Job Summary:

Overview:

On any given day at Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology, we’re reimagining ways to create magical viewing experiences for the world’s most beloved stories while also transforming our 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 enhance 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 here:

  • Building the future of Disney’s media: DE&E Technologists are designing and building the infrastructure that will power our 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 implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and enhance how audiences experience sports, entertainment & news.

The Solutions Engineering & Flex Force team is a multi-disciplinary team responsible for driving engineering architecture and excellence within the Product and Data Engineering group. The team’s focus is ensuring pragmatic decisions are made across all domains, driving better communication, and assisting with delivery of crucial business priorities.

This is a hands-on engineering position working with engineers across the organization. Based on your experience, you will apply technical expertise to manage individual project priorities, deadlines and deliverables and will design, develop, test, deploy, maintain, and enhance software solutions. You will architect reusable solutions that are shared across all Disney products. You may lead others to solve complex problems and provide oversight and direction to other software engineers.

Responsibilities:

  • Work with teams from around Disney to architect, develop and integrate business critical features

  • Oversee the design of complex technical projects which are typically company-wide initiatives. Oversee multiple products or services conception, design, and initial specifications and help define the technology strategy to be implemented by multiple domains.

  • Contributes to product and solution designs to address critical and strategic issues and complex problems spanning multiple product groups

  • Develop technology strategy in response to company-wide strategy and initiatives in support of the needs of key business segments and stakeholders.

  • Sets technical direction, strategy and drives technology innovation within multiple product segments across the company.

  • Produces technical designs and informs product strategies that anticipate, as best as possible, the needs of the business for years to come

Basic Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience

  • 10+ years hands-on professional experience with Client or Backend development

  • Experience working a significant consumer product that is currently available

  • Ability to collaborate in a small, productive development team as well as the larger engineering organization

  • Motivated self-starter with the ability to learn and adapt to new technologies

  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills; can effectively articulate complex ideas and influence others through well-reasoned explanations

  • Write efficient, reliable, and maintainable code whether implementing architectural improvements, user-facing features, or fixing defects

  • Troubleshoot and resolve issues, problems, and errors encountered across our various platforms

  • Analyze and optimize application code for efficiency, reliability, and performance

  • Understand product architecture, assisting other Software Architects as necessary

  • Manage multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment

  • Work with minimal technical supervision and supplemental engineering support

  • Embrace a highly collaborative team that rewards quality code and effective communication

  • Operate as an expert resource to other Software Engineers, providing an open learning environment for cross-team knowledge sharing

  • Often regarded as an expert in their field

  • Solves unique and complex problems that have a broad impact on the business.

  • Contributes to the development of functional strategy

  • Leads project teams to achieve milestones and objectives

  • Consistently involved in major work efforts of strategic importance, working directly with senior levels, often multidisciplinary in nature


The hiring range for this position in San Francisco is $197,900 to $265,400 per year, in New York/Seattle is $189,256 to $253,880 per year and in Bristol or Los Angeles is $180,646 to $242,330 per year. 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.

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, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other basis prohibited by federal, state or local law. Disney fosters a business culture where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a rapidly changing 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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