Lead Product Software Engineer

The Walt Disney Company; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 173,000 - 232,000; Full time

Job summary

The Walt Disney Company is seeking a Lead Software Engineer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN Technology in San Francisco. You will help build large-scale data platforms and backend services, enabling real-time and batch processing across Disney's media ecosystem.

Expect to drive architecture decisions, mentor teams, and collaborate with researchers and product managers in an open, innovative environment. This role emphasizes performance, scalability, and cutting-edge technologies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electronics Engineering, or related field.
• At least 7 years of professional programming and design experience in Scala, Java, Python, etc.
• 3+ years of big data development experience with Databricks, Spark, Hive, SingleStore, Airflow, and AWS.
• Strong knowledge of system and application design and architecture.
• Experience with processing large amounts of data at the petabyte level.
• Demonstrated ability with cloud infrastructure technologies, including Terraform, Kubernetes, Spinnaker, etc.
• Excellent communication skills and project leadership experience.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to a team of big data and backend engineers to deliver high value projects.
• Build components of large-scale data platform for batch and real-time processing, and own features of big data applications to fit evolving business needs.
• Build next-gen cloud based big data infrastructure for batch and streaming data applications, and continuously improve performance, scalability and availability.
• Balance architectural and design considerations such as performance, scalability, reusability and flexibility issues.
• Advocate the best engineering practices, including the use of design patterns, CI/CD, code review and automated test.
• Collaborate with researchers to productize cutting edge innovations at scale.
• Collaborate with program managers, product managers, SDET, and researchers in an open and innovative environment.

Skills

Scala/Java/Python

Big data development

Cloud infra

Communication/leadership

Performance/scalability

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Databricks

Spark

Hive

SingleStore

Airflow

AWS

Terraform

Kubernetes

Spinnaker

Job description

Job ID 10162578 Location San Francisco, California, United States Business Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology Date posted Oct. 21, 2026

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.

Ad Platforms organization within Disney Entertainment and ESPN Technology is fully responsible for building, enhancing and maintaining the high-performance, distributed, microservice-based Advertising Platform across all of Disney online properties, including Hulu and ESPN+. We build and maintain proprietary technology, ranging from ad serving and ad delivery, campaign management, reporting as well as all the integrations internal and external that come with evolving and maintaining a best-in-class video advertising business.

The Forecasting team is under Ad Platforms, and its mission is to support Ads Inventory Forecasting business requirements. The Inventory Forecasting Platform provides unified inventory forecasting modelling and result accessing. This is a strong cross-domain team to deliver E2E solutions covering tech areas ranging from machine learning, big data, microservices to data visualization.

Our team is seeking a Lead Software Engineer. The right person for this role should have extensive experience on big data as well as solid expertise on backend services or full stack. If you are someone who is proactive, hardworking, and enthusiastic in these domains, this is a phenomenal role for you!

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Contribute to a team of big data and backend engineers to deliver high value projects
• Build components of large-scale data platform for batch and real-time processing, and own features of big data applications to fit evolving business needs
• Build next-gen cloud based big data infrastructure for batch and streaming data applications, and continuously improve performance, scalability and availability
• Balance architectural and design considerations such as performance, scalability, reusability and flexibility issues
• Advocate the best engineering practices, including the use of design patterns, CI/CD, code review and automated test
• Collaborate with researchers to productize cutting edge innovations at scale
• Collaborate with program managers, product managers, SDET, and researchers in an open and innovative environment

Minimum Qualifications

• At least Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Electronics Engineering, or related field
• At least 7 years of professional programming and design experience in Scala, Java, Python etc.
• 3+ years of big data development experience with technical stacks like Databricks, Spark, Hive, SingleStore, Airflow, and AWS
• Strong knowledge of system / application design and architecture
• Experience with processing large amount of data at petabyte level
• Demonstrated ability with cloud infrastructure technologies, including Terraform, K8S, Spinnaker, etc.
• Passionate about technologies, and openness to interdisciplinary work
• Strong communication skills and project leading experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability with cloud infrastructure technologies, including Terraform, K8S, Spinnaker, etc.
• Experience with Grafana, Datadog.
• Experience in widely used Web framework (React.js, Vue.js, Angular, etc.) and good knowledge of Web stack HTML, CSS, Webpack
• Ads domain knowledge

PAY TRANSPARENCY

The hiring range for this position in San Francisco, CA is $173,100 to $232,100 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.

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, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. 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.

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, visit the Disney candidate disability accommodations FAQs (opens in new window). We will only respond to those requests that are related to the accessibility of the online application system due to a disability.

At Disney, we want everyone to belong and thrive. Creating a welcoming and respectful environment for our employees and guests is core to our company culture and our business. We strive to build supportive work environments that drive innovation and reinforce a culture in which all employees feel welcome, respected, and valued.

Heroes Work Here

Heroes Work Here reflects the long history of respect and appreciation Disney has for the U.S. Armed Services. We recognize the commitment and dedication it takes to serve your country, both as military personnel and military spouses, and value the leadership skills and sense of purpose it has instilled in you.

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