Lead Systems Engineer

ESPN; Glendale (CA); On-site; USD 131,000 - 176,000; Full time

Job summary

Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is seeking a Lead Systems Engineer to design and scale hybrid infrastructure across on‑prem and cloud environments for high‑volume media platforms. You’ll translate enterprise designs into reusable patterns, lead critical infrastructure initiatives, and mentor engineering teams to deliver reliable 5‑9s availability.

Based in Glendale, CA, this senior role offers a competitive compensation package, potential bonus, and opportunities to

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field required.
• 7+ years of systems/infrastructure engineering experience.
• Expertise in hybrid infrastructure (on-prem + cloud).
• Experience with large-scale high‑performance multiprotocol NFS & S3 storage systems.
• Strong automation skills (IaC, CI/CD).
• Proven leadership across complex technical initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of hybrid infrastructure systems focused primarily on origin object storage systems of content.
• Translate architectural designs into scalable deployment patterns.
• Identify critical KPI’s to drive improvements across all platforms.
• Deliver solutions across on-prem and cloud environments.
• Drive continuous improvements to support high availability (5 9’s).
• Mentor engineers and improve engineering practices.

Skills

Hybrid infrastructure

NFS & S3 storage

Distributed systems

Automation (IaC, CI/CD)

Technical leadership

High-performance systems

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a technical field

Tools

VMware

Kubernetes

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.

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.

The Lead Systems Engineer is a senior technical contributor responsible for delivering and scaling critical infrastructure platforms across hybrid environments, including on-premises data centers and public cloud.

This role bridges architecture and execution by translating enterprise-level designs into reusable, automated patterns while leading complex infrastructure initiatives across multiple teams.

Responsibilities

Platform Engineering & Delivery

• Lead design and implementation of hybrid infrastructure systems focused primarily on origin object storage systems of content.
• Translate architectural designs into scalable deployment patterns
• Identify critical metric KPI’s to drive improvements across all platforms
• Deliver solutions across on-prem and cloud environments
• Drive continuous improvements to support our goal of 5 9’s availability.

Automation & Modernization

• Drive Infrastructure-as-Code and CI/CD best practices
• Lead infrastructure migrations and modernization initiatives

Reliability & Operations

• Lead incident response and ensure production stability
• Support high availability, 24x7 infrastructure services

Technical Leadership

• Mentor engineers and improve engineering practices
• Act as a technical leader across multi-team projects

Collaboration

• Partner cross-functionally to drive delivery
• Communicate technical decisions clearly

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field
• 7+ years of systems/infrastructure engineering experience
• Expertise in hybrid infrastructure (on-prem + cloud)
• Expertise in complex large scale high performance multiprotocol NFS & S3 object storage systems
• Experience with VMware, Kubernetes, and distributed systems
• Strong automation skills (IaC, CI/CD)
• Proven leadership across complex technical initiatives

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with large-scale migrations
• Storage and data lifecycle expertise
• Observability and monitoring expertise

#DISNEYTECH

The hiring range for this position in New York, NY and in Seattle, WA is $137,500.00 - $184,300.00 per year, and in Glendale, CA, $131,200.00 - $176,000 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.

Disclaimer

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

To learn more about Disney's guidelines on the use of AI for candidates,

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.

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