Principal Engineer – Scalable Content Platforms

The Walt Disney Company; Glendale, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 184,000 - 247,000; Full time

Job summary

The Walt Disney Company, through Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology, seeks a Principal Product Software Engineer in Glendale, CA to drive technical direction for high-scale content platforms and multiply the impact of engineers across the organization.

You will split your time between coding, design, and architecture, owning systems that power Disney's brands and experiences while mentoring teams and advancing AI-powered engineering approaches.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience crafting large-scale, highly available services.
• Expert across multiple technical specialties with influence across teams.
• Proven ability to design backend architectures spanning multiple teams.
• Strong Java and OO skills; solid CS fundamentals.
• Experience with caching and distributed systems.
• Experience with source control, CI/CD, and AGILE/Scrum practices.
• Ability to tackle hard problems and mentor engineers across Disney.
• Excellent communication and collaboration abilities.
• Bachelor’s degree in CS/IS/Software or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, implementation, and delivery of software in complex spaces; write critical-path code.
• Deconstruct architectures into independently developed components for multiple teams.
• Develop relationships with stakeholders to inform technical strategy and drive alignment.
• Set the standard for engineering excellence and drive best practices, including AI tooling.
• Lead design reviews, mitigate risks, and align teams toward simple, cohesive designs.
• Mentor engineers and participate in hiring and promotion processes.

Skills

Java

Distributed systems

Backend architecture

AWS

Terraform / IaC

CI/CD

Mentoring engineers

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study

Tools

DynamoDB

OpenSearch

SQS/SNS

Job description

The Walt Disney Company, through Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology, seeks a Principal Product Software Engineer in Glendale, CA to drive technical direction for high-scale content platforms and multiply the impact of engineers across the organization.

You will split your time between coding, design, and architecture, owning systems that power Disney's brands and experiences while mentoring teams and advancing AI-powered engineering approaches.