Senior Manager, Software Engineering - Streaming Backend Quality

Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology

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.

Job Summary:

The DEEP&T Quality & Insights team is seeking a Senior Manager, Software Engineering who has a true passion for solving problems and growing talent. This senior manager will lead a team that develops automation, processes, and infrastructure to ensure the quality of the backend API’s and data systems that support the Disney streaming service ecosystem. We are looking for an engineering leader who is excited to push the envelope and grow with our team. We are a fast-paced group that takes extraordinary pride in creating innovative, effective, and efficient test automation solutions using cutting edge tools and constantly improving upon them.

As a member of our team, you will strive to accomplish the following goals:

• Motivating and managing multiple quality teams, building skills, and driving positive employee engagement.
• Ensuring successful product launches and on-time delivery.
• Providing strategic input on future initiatives with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Contributing to the design, implementation, and maintenance of test automation frameworks, infrastructure, and associated execution environments.
• Being a member of the larger Quality Engineering team, increasing quality through innovation, collaboration, curiosity and thoughtful debate.
• Contributing to the successful implementation of solutions for complex technical problems across DEEP&T engineering teams, driving the deployment of Disney backend and guest-facing products at Disney Quality.

Responsibilities:

• Manage multiple agile globally distributed teams of full-time and contracted engineers.
• Set and manage team expectations and OKRs.
• Report on project and team progress to both internal and external stakeholders.
• Collaborate with product, program, engineering, and operations on the quality delivery of supported products.
• Drive the planning, design and implementation of both short-term and long-term projects.
• Support budget and resource planning needs.
• Successfully analyze and resolve complex problems, leading and coordinating across both internal and external teams & stakeholders.
• Mentor and guide managers, leaders and senior engineers.
• Guide and direct a cohesive technical direction for the teams, supporting and performing code and architecture reviews when needed.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Computer and/or Electrical Engineering, or comparable field of study and/or equivalent years of work experience
• 10+ years of progressive experience in software development or automated testing.
• 3+ years of management or people leadership experience.
• Expertise in at least one of the following programming languages: Node/JavaScript, Java, Python.
• Experience with system and unit testing frameworks, SDLC tools such as Jira and Confluence, version control systems (e.g. Git), and CI/CD tools and pipelines.
• Excellent problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Highly skilled in project management practices, leading quality teams, mentoring people and technology leaders, and setting technical direction.
• Organized, detail-oriented and able to deliver project tasks on time.
• Highly motivated, self-starting individual with strong verbal and written communication skills who can successfully communicate up, down, and across.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing or testing media streaming technologies and applications.
• Experience working with Agile methodologies.
• Experience in mobile application development and testing.
• Experience with developing applications in cloud platforms (e.g., AWS), leveraging standard ecosystem tools such as Kafka, Amazon SQS, and Kinesis.
• Working knowledge of web accessibility fundamentals.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, Spinnaker, and CI/CD systems.
• Experience with test suite/case/run management tools (e.g., JIRA Xray, etc.).
• Experience with Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning tools and models, and their relevant application in software development and testing.

The hiring range for this position in Los Angeles, CA is $184,300 - $247,100 per year. The base pays 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