Senior Product Software Engineer - Golang

ESPN; Glendale (CA); On-site; USD 144,000 - 193,000; Full time

Job summary

ESPN is seeking a Senior Backend Product Software Engineer to guide the News Distribution Platform and build scalable backend services. You will design distribution APIs, improve performance, and partner with product, editorial, and engineering teams to deliver reliable experiences for millions of guests.

You will own end-to-end delivery, mentor peers, and drive improvements in reliability, latency, and developer productivity within a fast-paced, guest-focused environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building and operating highly available, distributed backend systems in production.
• Golang (preferred) and/or Java for large-scale backend services.
• Experience deploying and scaling services in AWS cloud.
• Deep understanding of caching technologies such as Redis or Memcached.
• Proven leadership, coaching, and mentoring skills.
• Strong problem-solving and proactive nature.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and Git/GitLab/Jenkins.
• Experience with observability tools like Datadog and Grafana.
• Experience with Agile/Scrum development environments.
• Strong communication and collaborative mindset.

Responsibilities

• Own complex technical initiatives end-to-end from design to production deployment.
• Set backend distribution APIs architecture for high availability and low latency.
• Collaborate with product, editorial, and engineering stakeholders to translate requirements.
• Prioritize initiatives and manage risks to ensure timely delivery.
• Champion code quality, testing, CI/CD, observability, and incident response.
• Define operational standards including monitoring, alerts, and on-call processes.
• Perform thorough code reviews and uphold technical rigor.
• Mentor engineers to foster ownership and growth.
• Drive performance optimization across services and data stores.
• Contribute to technical documentation and knowledge sharing.

Skills

Golang

Java

AWS

Caching (Redis/Memcached)

CI/CD

Git/GitLab/Jenkins

Observability (Datadog/Grafana)

Agile/Scrum

Leadership

Distributed systems

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS or related field

Tools

Git

GitLab

Jenkins

Datadog

Grafana

Redis

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.

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 News Distribution Platform team is responsible for building the data pipelines and core distribution services that deliver trusted journalism and breaking news experiences to millions of guests across ABC News, Good Morning America, and local television stations in eight major markets, including Los Angeles and New York. Our services enable real-time publishing, syndication, and distribution of content across web, mobile, and connected TV platforms.

We operate systems that sit in the critical path of the News organization, where performance, scalability, and reliability are paramount- especially during high-profile live events and breaking news moments. Our mission is to ensure seamless, resilient, and low-latency content delivery at scale while continuously modernizing and evolving our platform.

As a Senior Product Software Engineer, you will play a key role in shaping the technical direction of the News Distribution Platform. You will lead the design and delivery of scalable backend services, influence architectural decisions, and partner across product, design, and engineering teams to power exceptional guest experiences. You will be expected to operate with a high degree of ownership and accountability, raise the engineering bar, and proactively drive improvements that enhance reliability, performance, and developer effectiveness.

Responsibilities

• Own complex technical initiatives end-to-end, from technical design through production deployment and operational excellence.
• Set the architectural direction of backend distribution APIs and services to ensure high availability, resiliency, and low latency at scale.
• Partner with product, editorial, and engineering stakeholders to translate business requirements into robust technical solutions.
• Strategically prioritize initiatives and technical workstreams to deliver the highest-impact and most time-sensitive outcomes, while proactively identifying, communicating, and mitigating risks to ensure successful execution.
• Champion engineering best practices across code quality, testing, CI/CD, observability, and incident response.
• Set standards for operational excellence, including monitoring, alerting, on-call processes, and post-incident analysis.
• Perform thorough code reviews and uphold a high standard of technical rigor and maintainability.
• Mentor and coach engineers, fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Drive performance optimization initiatives across services, caching layers, and data stores.
• Contribute to technical documentation and promote knowledge sharing across teams.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience.
• 5+ years of experience building and operating highly available, distributed backend systems in production environments.
• Strong experience designing and developing large-scale backend services using Golang (preferred) and/or Java.
• Experience deploying and scaling services within cloud infrastructure, preferably AWS.
• Deep understanding of caching technologies (such as Redis, Memcached, or similar).
• Proven leadership, coaching, and mentoring skills, with the ability to inspire and empower a team towards achieving business goals.
• Strong problem-solving skills with a proactive, detail-oriented approach.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and source control systems (e.g., Git, Gitlab, Jenkins).
• Experience with observability tools for metrics, logging, and monitoring (e.g., Datadog, Grafana).
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum development environments.
• Strong communication skills and a commitment to collaboration in a fast-paced, guest-focused environment.

The hiring range for this position in Glendale, CA and Glendale, CA is $144,100.00 to $193,200.00 per year and in New York, NY is $150,900.00 to $202,400.00 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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