Senior Principal Platform Services Architect

ESPN; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 243,000 - 326,000; Full time

Job summary

ESPN is seeking a Senior Principal Software Engineer, Platform Services in Seattle. You will design and evolve the Disney Entertainment & Sports platform services layer, enabling API gateways, cross‑service authentication, rate limiting, tracing, and observability for 400+ teams.

You will mentor engineers, set architectural direction, and collaborate with senior leaders to ensure scalable, reliable infrastructure for Disney+ ESPN and Hulu products.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience with leadership responsibilities.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems and platform engineering.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and own the platform services layer (API gateway, authentication, rate limiting, tracing, observability).
• Write production-grade code for shared libraries, services, SDKs, and templates adopted by 400+ teams.
• Create ADRs, design docs, and platform RFCs to guide delivery and establish standards.
• Lead architecture reviews, mentor engineers, and partner with Directors/VPs to drive platform strategy.
• Ensure AI-ready platform primitives for AI/ML workloads.

Skills

Distributed systems

API gateways

Observability platforms

Zero-trust networking

Mentorship

Executive IC

Education

Related Bachelor’s Degree

Tools

Service mesh

Identity federation

Job description

ESPN is seeking a Senior Principal Software Engineer, Platform Services in Seattle. You will design and evolve the Disney Entertainment & Sports platform services layer, enabling API gateways, cross‑service authentication, rate limiting, tracing, and observability for 400+ teams.

You will mentor engineers, set architectural direction, and collaborate with senior leaders to ensure scalable, reliable infrastructure for Disney+ ESPN and Hulu products.