Lead Product Software Engineer - Data Foundation Platform

The Walt Disney Company; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 156,000 - 229,000; Full time

Job summary

Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is seeking a Lead Software Engineer for the Data Foundation Platform, building cloud services used by data teams to power Disney's streaming and web platforms. You will contribute to AI tools, knowledge graphs, and scalable data pipelines across Disney's media businesses.

The role emphasizes learning quickly, strong coding skills, and collaboration with product managers and fellow engineers to advance the Data/AI strategy.

Qualifications

• 7+ years software engineering experience on large-scale projects.
• Strong algorithmic problem-solving skills.
• Proficient in Python with ML libraries.
• Proficient in AWS Bedrock, Snowflake Cortex, Databricks Genie.
• Proficient in Data Engineering tools: Airflow, Spark, Databricks, Snowflake.
• Strong scripting language experience.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to maintaining, updating, and expanding existing AI intelligence layer encompassing Snowflake Cortex, AWS Bedrock.
• Understand knowledge management and semantic search with graph databases and Open Search.
• Architect and code shared libraries that abstract complex business logic to allow consistent functionality across all data pipelines in the Data organization.
• Collaborate with product managers, architects, and other engineers to drive the success of the Data&AI strategy.
• Develop and document standards for configurations, naming conventions, partitioning strategies, and more.
• Ensure high operational efficiency and quality of the AI projects.
• Be an active participant and advocate of agile/scrum ceremonies to collaborate and improve processes for our team.
• Engage with and understand our customers, forming relationships that allow us to understand and prioritize both innovative new offerings and incremental platform improvements.
• Maintain detailed documentation of your work and changes to support data quality and data governance requirements.

Skills

Python programming

Algorithmic problem solving

Scripting languages

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

AWS Bedrock

Snowflake Cortex

Databricks Genie

Airflow

Spark

Databricks

Snowflake

Job description

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.

Ad Platforms is responsible for Disney’s industry‑leading ad technology and products – driving advertising performance, innovation, and value in Disney’s sports, news, and entertainment content, across all media platforms.

Job Summary

We're looking for a Lead Software Engineer to join our Data Foundation Platform team. We build and provide cloud platform and services that are used by data engineering teams and data scientists across Disney Entertainment and ESPN Technology, particularly in processing data related to our streaming and web-based businesses (e.g., data from Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, etc.). We are looking for a rockstar engineer with experience building AI tools and services that help build the knowledge graph and the AI intelligence layer for a suite of disney products. The successful candidate will have a passion for technology and solid coding skills. Knowledge of specific technologies may be helpful but is less important than an ability to learn quickly. We value team members who aren't afraid to dive deep when required, think for themselves, and have great communication and teamwork skills.

Responsibilities And Duties Of The Role

• Contribute to maintaining, updating, and expanding existing AI intelligence layer encompassing Snowflake Cortex, AWS Bedrock
• Good understanding of knowledge management and semantic search with experience in Graph databases and Open Search
• Architect, design, and code shared libraries that abstract complex business logic to allow consistent functionality across all data pipelines in the Data organization.
• Collaborate with product managers, architects, and other engineers to drive the success of the Data&AI strategy.
• Contribute to developing and documenting both internal and external standards and best practices for configurations, naming conventions, partitioning strategies, and more.
• Ensure high operational efficiency and quality of the AI projects.
• Be an active participant and advocate of agile/scrum ceremonies to collaborate and improve processes for our team.
• Engage with and understand our customers, forming relationships that allow us to understand and prioritize both innovative new offerings and incremental platform improvements.
• Maintain detailed documentation of your work and changes to support data quality and data governance requirements.

Basic Qualifications

• 7+ years software engineering experience in developing large projects
• Strong algorithmic problem-solving expertise
• Strong fundamental programming skills in python with knowledge of ML libraries
• Proficient in AWS Bedrock, Snowflake Cortex, Databricks Genie.
• Proficient in Data Engineering technologies like Airflow, Spark, Databricks, Snowflake
• Strong scripting language experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Passion to explore new technology and participate in proof of concepts.
• Enjoy new and meaningful technology or business challenges which require you to think and respond quickly.
• Passionate to automation, data, technology, & creative innovation.
• Prior experience building internet scale platforms.
• It would be awesome if you have a robust portfolio on GitHub and / or open-source contributions you are proud to share

Required Education

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science or related discipline or its equivalent

#disneytech

The hiring range for this position in Los Angeles, California is $155,700 to $208,700 per year, Seattle, WA is $163,100 to $218,700, and San Francisco, CA is $170,500 to $228,600 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.