Lead Content Distribution Engineer

Disneyland Resort; United States; On-site; USD 129,000 - 182,000; Full time

Job summary

Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is seeking a Lead Content Distribution Engineer to drive caching, CDN edge management, and global distribution strategy. This role focuses on operational excellence across the Disney Distribution Mesh and associated CDN configurations.

You will participate in tooling development, mentor teammates, and coordinate with operations, performance, and engineering teams to solve caching challenges for Disney’s streaming products.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 7 years of experience managing caching solutions.
• Understanding of streaming video protocols (HLS) and how it interacts with caching.
• Ability to perform Network Troubleshooting.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Experience in a Content Distribution Network environment.
• Knowledge of video players and their impact on cache logic.
• Bachelor's degree required.

Responsibilities

• Configure and manage CDN configurations in the Disney Distribution Mesh.
• Actively manage OpenCache deployments with ISPs globally.
• Review performance metrics across caching infrastructure for improvements.
• Review capacity and align with global distribution strategy.
• Oversee Day-to-Day operations of Disney Distribution Mesh.
• Develop tooling to integrate 3rd party CDNs into a unified control plane.
• Act as Incident Owner for CDN issues with cross-functional teams.
• Provide consultation on caching solutions to internal stakeholders.
• Provide senior level on-call evaluation and escalation.

Skills

Caching management

Network troubleshooting

HLS streaming

Effective communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Varnish

NGINX

HAProxy

AWS

GCP

Python

SSL/TLS

Ansible/AWX

Job description

Lead Content Distribution Engineer

Location: New York, New York, United States / Santa Monica, California, United States

Business: Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology

Job Summary:

Lead Content Distribution Network Engineer

Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology

Technology is at the heart of Disney’s past, present, and future. Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is a global organization of engineers, product developers, designers, technologists, data scientists, and more – all working to build and advance the technological backbone for Disney’s media business globally.

The team marries technology with creativity to build world-class products, enhance storytelling, and drive velocity, innovation, and scalability for our businesses. We are Storytellers and Innovators. Creators and Builders. Entertainers and Engineers. We work with every part of The Walt Disney Company’s media portfolio to advance the technological foundation and consumer media touch points serving millions of people around the world.

Here are a few reasons why we think you’d love working here:

Building the future of Disney’s media: Our Technologists are designing and building the products and platforms that will power our media, advertising, and distribution businesses for years to come.

Reach, Scale & Impact: More than ever, Disney’s technology and products serve as a signature doorway for fans' connections with the company’s brands and stories. Disney+. Hulu. ESPN. ABC. ABC News…and many more. These products and brands – and the unmatched stories, storytellers, and events they carry – matter to millions of people globally.

Innovation: We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms, and solve complex and distinctive technical problems.

Product Engineering

Product Engineering is a unified team responsible for the engineering of Disney Entertainment & ESPN digital and streaming products and platforms. This includes product engineering, media engineering, quality assurance, engineering behind personalization, commerce, lifecycle, and identity.

Job Summary:

For the role of Lead Content Distribution Engineer, Media Processing and Distribution is looking for a candidate specializing in caching technology, distributed networking, and operational experience in CDN edge services. This role will join the Product Engineering organization as part of the Media Distribution Technology team which develops and maintains CDN configurations for all CDNs in the Disney Distribution Mesh.

Areas of focus include:

• Configure and manage CDN configurations in the Disney Distribution Mesh
• Actively manage OpenCache deployments with ISPs globally
• Actively review performance metrics across our caching infrastructure for improvements (in concert with operations and performance management teams)
• Review capacity and ensure alignment with global distribution strategy
• Oversee Day-to-Day operations of Disney Distribution Mesh
• Participate in tooling development to integrate 3rd party CDNs into unified control plane
• Operational Management Contact for CDN support – actively managing incidents via communication with CDN support teams
• Identifying areas for caching configuration tuning and adjustment
• Work to solve caching issues in concert with our operations and engineering organizations
• Provide consultation on caching solutions to internal stakeholders
• Provide senior tier-3 on call evaluation, escalation and support

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

Focus on operations & management of cache solutions

Support product driven initiatives and projects

Develop engineering tooling and automation

Training & mentoring

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

• Minimum of 7 years of experience managing caching solutions
• Understanding of streaming video protocols (HLS) and how it interacts with caching
• Ability to perform Network Troubleshooting
• Effective communication, written and verbal
• Passion for troubleshooting and debugging
• Experience in a Content Distribution Network environment
• Knowledge of video players and impact on cache logic
• Bachelors degree required

Preferred experience with:

• HTTP/DNS/Internet Architecture
• Caching (Varnish)
• Web Serving (NGINX, HAProxy)
• Cloud Technologies (AWS, GCP)
• Scripting Languages (Python, et al)
• Security Protocols (SSL Certificates, TLS)
• Configuration Management (Ansible, AWX)

The hiring range for this position in New York is $135,400-$181,600 per year and in Santa Monica is $129,300 - $173,300 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 and ESPN Product & Technology:

At Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology, we’re blending imagination and innovation to reimagine the ways people experience and engage with the world’s most beloved stories and products. Our work is wide-ranging and deeply sophisticated. We create amazing experiences, transform the future of media, and build products and platforms that enable the connection between people everywhere and the stories and sports they love.

Disney’s ability to marry world‑class technology with one‑of‑a‑kind creativity makes us unique. It is at the heart of our past, present, and future. We are Storytellers and Innovators. Creators and Builders. Entertainers and Engineers.

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 Entertainment & Sports LLC, which is part of a business we call Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology.

Disney Entertainment & Sports 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.