Software Engineer

The Walt Disney Company (France); Manchester; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the entertainment sector seeks a passionate Software Engineer to join their User Foundations team in Manchester. The role focuses on building reliable backend services and enhancing user experiences across multiple platforms. Ideal candidates will have a strong background in software engineering, familiarity with distributed systems, and a commitment to excellence in their work.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Fluent in multiple programming languages; expertise in Java, Python, or JavaScript.
• Experience writing, testing, and deploying production-quality backend services.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain scalable, resilient, and high-performance backend services.
• Participate in the design, breakdown, and estimation of new features and services.
• Contribute to operational excellence through monitoring, alerting, and incident response.

Skills

Software Engineering

Distributed Systems

Problem Solving

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

SpringBoot

DynamoDB

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Job description

About the Role & Team

At Disney, we’re storytellers. We make the impossible, possible. The Walt Disney Company is a world-class entertainment and technological leader. From streaming platforms and sports broadcasting to news, animation, and immersive experiences, we continue to shape the future of storytelling and viewer engagement. Every product, every experience, and every innovation is powered by a team driven by passion, creativity, and a commitment to excellence.

Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology powers the digital experiences that bring Disney’s iconic content to viewers around the globe. Whether it’s evolving our streaming platforms, innovating advertising and content delivery infrastructure, or delivering cutting-edge sports and news experiences, we are at the forefront of redefining how stories are told and experienced.

The User Foundations team plays a pivotal role in delivering key user capabilities shared across Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star+. We build high-throughput, reliable services and data pipelines that gather user insights and power personalization across all our platforms. We're a dynamic, fast-paced, and collaborative team looking for a skilled Software Engineer who thrives in a high-impact environment.

What You Will Do

As a Software Engineer on the User Foundations team, you will:

• Build and maintain scalable, resilient, and high-performance backend services

• Collaborate cross-functionally to design and deliver robust user-facing capabilities

• Participate in the design, breakdown, and estimation of new features and services

• Write clean, maintainable code, backed by thorough testing (unit, integration, performance)

• Engage in CI/CD practices to ensure seamless deployment and operation of services

• Contribute to operational excellence through monitoring, alerting, and incident response

• Participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation for mission-critical services used by millions of users

• Foster a culture of engineering excellence through code reviews, documentation, and mentorship

• Identify optimization opportunities to improve performance, reliability, and scalability

• Champion collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and team growth

Required Qualifications & Skills

• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience

• Strong understanding of distributed, message-based, scalable systems

• Fluent in multiple programming languages; expertise in at least one of: Java, Python, or JavaScript

• Experience writing, testing, and deploying production-quality backend services

• Familiarity with service design, documentation, and software delivery best practices

• Strong written and verbal communication skills

• Effective problem-solving skills with the ability to diagnose and resolve complex issues

• Ability to thrive in fast-paced, evolving environments with shifting priorities

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with SpringBoot and the broader Spring ecosystem

• Knowledge of non-relational databases (e.g., DynamoDB), and caching solutions (Redis, Memcached)

• Experience with streaming technologies like Apache Kafka or Amazon Kinesis

• Familiarity with Terraform, Docker, and Kubernetes

• Proficiency in at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP)

• Exposure to performance tuning and testing of distributed systems

• Experience working on diverse teams and mentoring junior engineers

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field, or equivalent practical experience

The Walt Disney Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We strive to be a diverse workforce that is representative of our audiences, and where all can thrive and belong. Disney is committed to forming a team that includes and respects a variety of voices, identities, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.