Senior Full Stack Engineer - Ad Decisioning

ESPN; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 158,000 - 212,000; Full time

Job summary

Disney Entertainment & ESPN Product & Technology in San Francisco is seeking a Senior Full Stack Software Engineer to design, implement, and optimize a high-performance ad serving platform that supports Disney's streaming and media properties.

You will own microservices, collaborate across teams, and help integrate AI-assisted development, with on-call rotations and a focus on observability, scalability, and reliability.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science/Engineering or relevant work experience.
• 5+ years of software engineering experience.
• Proficiency with Java.
• Experience with ReactJS or similar frontend frameworks.
• Demonstrable analytical / problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and test solutions for high-throughput, low-latency microservices.
• Enhance observability with metrics, monitoring, and alerting.
• Translate product requirements into actionable engineering tasks.
• Take ownership of one or more of the team's domain areas.
• Integrate AI-assisted development practices into daily workflows.
• Participate in On-Call rotations per team escalation policy.

Skills

Java

ReactJS

Analytical skills

Communication

Teamwork

Education

BS or MS in Computer Science / Engineering

Tools

SpringBoot

DynamoDB

Redis

Kafka

Kinesis

AWS

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

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.

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.

Job Summary

The Ad Serving Engineering organization within Disney Entertainment and the ESPN organization is responsible for building, enhancing, and maintaining the high‑performance, distributed, microservice‑based Digital Advertising Platform. The platform is charged with the qualification, delivery, and tracking of Digital Advertising campaigns (Video on Demand, Live TV, and innovative interactive ads) across all of Disney online properties, including Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+. In addition, Ad Serving teams collaborate in the development of supporting components, such as anti‑ad fatigue systems, impression counting pipelines, and ad experience flows. We also work on integrations with critical services responsible for the entitlements, correct pacing, targeting, selection of ads, and third‑party systems. As part of the Decisioning Fleet, you will directly contribute to optimizing ad qualification and selection to make sure viewers always see the right ad at the right time. You will also help build tools that analyze what ads are competing for slots for ad breaks across Hulu, Disney+, ESPN, and others. As a Senior Full Stack Software Engineer (P3) on our team, you’ll leverage your technical expertise to design and deliver scalable, performant, and maintainable solutions that directly impact the stability and quality of Disney’s ad delivery systems.

Daily, You Should Bring

• A willingness and desire to effectively communicate and collaborate across teams and
• systems.
• An understanding of the importance of project ownership.
• A passion for mentoring, learning, and adapting to a very dynamic and fast‑paced
• environment.
• An understanding of micro‑service encapsulation and loose coupling, and why they are
• important.
• An understanding of how to define technical and operational metrics to measure system
• health and to manage risk.
• Use AI tools responsibly to improve productivity while adhering to company policies.
• Kindness and pragmatic optimism.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and test solutions for high‑throughput, low‑latency microservices.
• Enhance observability with metrics, monitoring, and alerting.
• Translate product requirements into actionable engineering tasks.
• Take ownership of one or more of the team's domain areas.
• Integrate AI‑assisted development practices into daily workflows.
• Participate in On‑Call rotations per team escalation policy.

Basic Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science / Engineering or relevant work experience.
• 5+ years of software engineering experience.
• Proficiency with Java.
• Experience with ReactJS or similar frontend frameworks, with the ability to quickly pick up new technologies.
• Demonstrable analytical / problem‑solving skills.
• Great communication, collaboration skills, and a strong teamwork ethic with both technical and non‑technical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with:

• SpringBoot and related Spring projects.
• Modern frontend development practices
• Non‑relational database technologies like DynamoDB.
• Caching datastores such as Redis, ValKey or MemCache.
• Data Streaming Mechanisms such as Apache Kafka and/or Kinesis.
• Cloud platforms such as AWS.
• Modern DevOps tools such as Terraform, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Familiarity with AI productivity tools and their application in software development.
• Domain knowledge in Ad Tech.

Additional Information

• Engineers are expected to be in the office four days a week.
• This role is hiring in San Francisco, Santa Monica, Glendale, or Seattle

#disneytech

The hiring range for this position in Santa Monica, California is $144,100.00 to 193,200.00 per year, in Seattle, WA is $150,900.00 to $202,400.00 per year, and in San Francisco, CA is $157,800.00 to $211,600.00 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.

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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