Staff ML Engineer — Vision & Multimodal AI (Onsite)

Disney Entertainment; Burbank (CA); On-site; USD 158,000 - 212,000; Full time

Job summary

The Walt Disney Studios is seeking a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to lead applied deep learning work in computer vision and multimodal AI within the Creative Technology Platform at Studio Technology.

This hands-on technical leadership role requires pragmatism, strong judgment on ML application, and the ability to drive solutions at pace for production use by Disney’s storytellers across its brands.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computer Vision or a closely related field.
• Must have 7+ years of professional experience, including 4+ years deploying ML in production.
• Must have strong command of deep learning, with expertise in computer vision and multimodal models (e.g., vision-language models, video understanding).
• Must have strong Python and PyTorch (or equivalent), with production practices (version control, automated testing, CI/CD) and familiarity with Docker and cloud platforms.
• Must have proven track record of leading ML projects across teams and communicating clearly with non-technical partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of ML solutions in computer vision and multimodal AI that serve Studio users.
• Run focused experiments to select, adapt and fine-tune proven methods, and lead build-vs-buy-vs-partner decisions.
• Define evaluation methods, including for generative and subjective output, that tie model quality to real user outcomes.
• Work with engineering teams to take solutions into production, and iterate on them based on monitoring and user feedback.
• Set technical direction across teams, mentor engineers, and champion testing, code quality and reproducibility.
• Partner with product, engineering and business stakeholders to build the right solution, explaining the pros and cons of each approach to help them make sound business decisions.
• Develop solutions in line with Disney’s responsible AI principles, respecting content rights, IP and talent protections.
• Stay at the forefront of multimodal and generative AI, and bring the best ideas into Studio workflows.

Skills

Python

PyTorch

Deep learning

Computer vision

Multimodal models

Docker

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

Leadership

Education

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computer Vision or a closely related field

PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computer Vision or a related field

Tools

Docker

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

Job description

The Walt Disney Studios is seeking a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to lead applied deep learning work in computer vision and multimodal AI within the Creative Technology Platform at Studio Technology.

This hands-on technical leadership role requires pragmatism, strong judgment on ML application, and the ability to drive solutions at pace for production use by Disney’s storytellers across its brands.