Expression of Interest - Sr. Software Engineer, Pipeline Infrastructure

Walt Disney Animation Studios; Burbank (CA); On-site; USD 141,900 - 190,300; Full time

Job summary

Walt Disney Animation Studios is seeking a skilled software developer in Production Technology to help build and evolve the studio's infrastructure supporting our animated features. You will collaborate with technical directors and artists to design scalable, high-performance services across compute, data management, and APIs, using a polyglot stack.

Ideal candidates blend strong engineering chops with a collaborative mindset and a passion for delivering reliable tools that empower film

Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 5+ years of experience designing and developing service-oriented infrastructure.
• Strong software design and engineering skills; familiar with enterprise integration patterns.
• Proficient in two or more languages: Go, Scala, Java, Python, Rust, C++11 or later.
• Experience building scalable, fault-tolerant service architectures.
• Ability to identify, research, and integrate new technologies quickly as business needs evolve.
• Experience developing high-performance, highly concurrent, asynchronous code; strong communication and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement new studio infrastructure to support film production.
• Partner with technical directors, other software engineers, and technology leadership.
• Develop APIs and management UIs across the full software stack.
• Adopt agile practices to deliver simple, performant solutions to complex problems.

Skills

Go

Scala

Java

Python

Rust

C++11+

Service-oriented architecture

High-performance parallel programming

Asynchronous code

Enterprise integration patterns

Communication skills

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / Computer Engineering / Electrical Engineering or related field

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Kafka

gRPC

REST

PostgreSQL

Distributed storage systems

Job description

Position Overview

At Walt Disney Animation Studios we have a deep commitment to the philosophy that creativity inspires technology, and technology inspires creativity. Engineers in our Production Technology department are charged with developing and implementing new solutions for unique and challenging problems for all of our animated content. We do this working alongside a user base that shares a collaborative environment with us, and uses the code we develop to make our feature films.

What does it mean to be a developer here at WDAS?

• Engineers get the opportunity to work on the full stack of our tools, from developing underlying infrastructure through building intuitive artist-friendly interfaces.
• Work hand in hand with artists to make the tools we need for the incredibly complex and rich characters and environments featured in our movies.
• Develop on top of a highly performant, extensible in-house application framework.
• Develop new artist-centric interaction models using the latest hardware and technologies.

Projects Include

• Production data management and version control
• Workflow orchestration
• Storage orchestration
• Data mining and machine learning

We are adding a talented developer to our Technology team. In this role, you will partner with technical directors, other software engineers, and technology leadership on the design and implementation of new studio infrastructure to service the needs of film production at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

The ideal candidate will enjoy a diversity of challenges in building up and operating solutions which span the full software stack, from core compute, data management to developing APIs and management user interfaces. All projects share a common goal of simple and performant solutions to complex problems, and use agile development methodologies as part of high-energy, proficient teams.

Key Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering or other related field; or comparable industry experience
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience designing and developing service-oriented infrastructure
• Ability to demonstrate strong software design and engineering skills; familiar with enterprise integration patterns and their appropriate use
• Must be competent in the design and implementation of maintainable code in two or more of the following languages: Go, Scala, Java, Python, Rust, C++11 or later
• Experience building highly scalable and fault tolerant service architectures
• Able to identify, research, integrate, and adapt new technologies quickly as business needs evolve
• Experienced developing high-performance, highly concurrent, asynchronous code strongly desired. Exemplary communication, team working and problem-solving skills, balancing the timeliness of solutions with their sustainability
• Able to prioritize competing demands based on business value
• Effective listener: able to engage with engineers and artists to understand their requirements and infer practical solutions

Bonus Qualifications

• Relational, graph, and key/value networked storage engines (FoundationDB, CockroachDB, JanusGraph, PostgreSQL, Neo4j)
• Containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Asynchronous messaging technologies (Kafka, AMQP, Pulsar)
• Storage technologies (object stores, NFS, pNFS, Ceph, Gluster)
• RPC frameworks (gRPC, REST, SOAP)
• Concurrency patterns (actor/agent-based modeling or event driven architectures)
• Domain Driven Design workplace experience
• Command Query Responsibility Segregation pattern experience
• Linux, OS X, or BSD systems experience
• Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure (multi-cloud or shared on/off-prem systems experience)
• Comfortable with a polyglot programming language workplace

The hiring range for this position in California is $141,900.00-$190,300.00 per year based on a 40 hour work week. The amount of hours scheduled per week may vary based on business needs. 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.