Lead Machine Learning Engineer

The Walt Disney Company; California (MO); On-site; USD 159,000 - 247,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking company as a Lead Machine Learning Engineer, where you'll spearhead innovative projects that enhance user experiences across popular streaming platforms. Collaborate with talented engineers and product managers to develop cutting-edge ML solutions that shape the future of entertainment. This exciting role offers the chance to work on high-impact projects within a dynamic team, driving excellence and best practices. If you're passionate about technology and eager to make a difference in the media landscape, this opportunity is perfect for you!

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in Machine Learning services.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure and observability tools.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement new Machine Learning solutions.
• Write and optimize code for ML features and services.

Skills

Machine Learning

JVM Services (Java, Scala, Kotlin)

Asynchronous Programming

Object-Oriented Programming

Functional Programming

Agile/Scrum Practices

Communication Skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Git

Jenkins

Datadog

Grafana

Job description

Lead Machine Learning Engineer

Apply Now Apply Later Job ID 10102659 Location New York, New York, United States / Santa Monica, California, United States / San Francisco, California, United States / Seattle, Washington, United States Business Disney Entertainment Date postedFeb. 03, 2025

Job Summary:

Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology

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 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.

User Household

The User Household team builds critical User Capabilities that are shared across all experiences on the streaming services: Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Star+. We implement reliable, high-throughput services and pipelines for gathering information about our users, and delivering personalized experiences. We're a fast-paced, dynamic, collaborative and fun team, and are looking for someone who can slot right in and start delivering from day 1.

Job Summary:

As a Lead Machine Learning Engineer, you will collaborate closely with engineers, project managers, and product managers to find the best solution for our viewers. You will drive projects end-to-end: leveraging ML techniques to design the initial solution; finding alignment with partner teams; execution of the necessary code; and overseeing the deployment of code to production. Members of the team look to your code and documentation as examples of excellence. You value good-faith collaboration, driving best practices, and promoting excellence on your team. If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Leverage knowledge of ML methods and techniques to design new Machine Learning solutions and drive alignment across engineering and product teams.

• Write code to implement new ML features or optimize existing services.

• Expertly break down work at the epic level, setting project milestones with reasonable deadlines.

• Prioritize work within a project to deliver on the most necessary or urgent requirements.

• Anticipate and mitigate risk on projects.

• Effectively communicate with stakeholders on project progress.

• Actively participate in daily stand-ups and other scrum ceremonies.

• Determine the most efficient means to sufficiently test new code: unit tests, integration tests, performance tests, etc.

• Set best practices for the team for on-call responsibilities such as deployments, monitoring, and investigating incidents

• Use logs, monitoring tools, and work with developers to determine root causes across distributed components.

• Perform code reviews for members of the team, bearing a sense of responsibility for approved code.

• Coach and mentor teammates in an open, respectful, flexible, empathetic manner. Help onboard new team members.

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

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

• 7+ years of related experience crafting and operating Machine learning services.

• 1+ years of related experience crafting and operating large-scale, high-availability backend services.

• Experience crafting and operating JVM services ( such as Java, Scala, Kotlin ).

• Proven track record of designing and driving consensus on backend architectures.

• Deep understanding of and experience using caching technologies ( such as Redis, Memcached, EHcache ).

• Strong grasp of computer science fundamentals (data structures, algorithms, databases, etc).

• Strong understanding of design patterns and principles.

• Experience with asynchronous programming.

• Experience with object-oriented programming patterns.

• Experience with functional programming patterns.

• Experience using source control systems and CI/CD pipelines ( such as git, Github , Jenkins ).

• Experience with AGILE/Scrum practices.

• Skilled at work breakdown and task estimation.

• 1+ years practicing operational best practices for service maintenance.

• Experience deploying and scaling within a cloud infrastructure.

• Experience with observability tools for metrics, logging, and monitoring (such as Datadog, Grafana).

• Strong communication skills and a desire to share your knowledge with team members and others.

The hiring range for this position in Morrisville, NC is $159,800 - $214,200, and for Los Angeles, CA is $167,700 - $224,900, for Seattle, WA & New York, NY is $175,800 - $235,700, and for San Francisco, CA is $183,700 - $246,400. 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:

At Disney Corporate you can see how the businesses behind the Company’s powerful brands come together to create the most innovative, far-reaching and admired entertainment company in the world. As a member of a corporate team, you’ll work with world-class leaders driving the strategies that keep The Walt Disney Company at the leading edge of entertainment. See and be seen by other innovative thinkers as you enable the greatest storytellers in the world to create memories for millions of families around the globe.

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 .

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.

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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 [e-mail] 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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