Lead Software Engineer

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.

Within DE&E Product & Technology, the Ad Platforms team is responsible for creating and scaling innovative global advertising solutions by building mission-critical tools and workflows to support addressable & linear ad sales, traffic, marketing, and ad serving. Being part of the DE&E Product & Technology team is a once-in-a-career opportunity to be a part of what is next.

This role is a part of the OMS Engineering team within the DE&E Ad Platforms organization. We strive to be a diverse team, passionate about great technology applied creatively to solve complex business problems. We are a motivated team that is committed to lifelong learning and improving, both in and out of the office. We strive to be flexible and adaptable to change both in how we execute projects and, in the technologies, we use to deliver our solutions. We care about the details because every pixel, every line of code, and every user interaction with our products determines whether we are delivering on our commitment to producing the very best products possible. You’ll be joining a talented team that works interdependently toward aggressive goals to deliver technically sound solutions. We work to ensure that we share both accountability and credit as a team. We often include our users as part of our team and we work to connect with them on a human level, understanding their world, so we can deliver software that they love to use.

As a Lead Software Engineer, you will be assuming a pivotal role within our team, helping shape the future of our OMS system. You will be responsible for guiding the technical direction of our OMS team and ensuring the delivery of high-quality solutions that meet the needs of our user base.

The ideal candidate should be proficient in Java, SQL, Terraform, and have experience with JavaScript. They must combine engineering skills with strong communication to work with stakeholders to turn business requirements into efficient, scalable features.

We’re looking for a passionate technical expert who wants to come here to do their very best work and make their mark, add their chapter to the long and storied history of The Walt Disney Company.  Someone who holds themselves and their team accountable in a professional, collaborative manner.  A collaborative technologist who seeks to bring the best out in themselves and their team.  Someone who can provide guidance, a fresh perspective and innovative insight into our initiatives.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Full lifecycle of software development (requirements gathering, designing, building, testing, maintenance, and support)

• Work within a cross functional team of engineers building software in a collaborative & agile development environment

• Foster an open environment of mutual support and engineering effectiveness

• Escalate and report project status, progress, risks to your leadership

• Influence and drive software engineering and architecture best practices and standards within the team

• Support the team in continuously improving the organization’s tools for owning and operating software

• Author and provide feedback on technical proposals and root cause analyses

• Provide technical guidance and coaching to a team of software engineers

• Lead the design, development and deployment of microservices including inter-service communication and data consistency

• Lead the design and development of high-quality solutions using Spring Boot, showcasing advanced proficiency in Java, SQL/NoSQL, Event-based architecture, API Design, and Security

• Work with databases and message queues to ensure seamless data flow and integrations

• Collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and other stakeholders to translate user requirements into functional and scalable solutions

• Champion best practices for Software development, ensuring adherence to quality standards and coding guidelines

• Stay abreast of the latest trends and technologies, ensuring the team remains at the forefront of innovation

• Conduct technical reviews, provide guidance on technical debt reduction, and oversee the implementation of continuous improvement initiatives

• Troubleshoot and resolve complex issues, ensuring system stability and performance

• Document technical decisions and maintain comprehensible documentation for future reference

Required Qualifications:        

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, Engineering, or another technical field

• 7+ years of experience in web application development or software engineering in a large enterprise environment using modern frameworks

• Have strong understanding of Microservice Architecture

• Have deep expertise in Java (including core libraries, concurrency, and memory management), & Sprint Boot framework (including modules such as Spring Data, Sprint Security and Spring Cloud)

• Have deep knowledge of SQL and NoSQL databases

• Have validated expertise in ORM frameworks like Hibernate and database design best practices

• Have deep experience with Kafka, Kinesis, and Redis (Elasticache)

• Possess extensive experience in developing industry-level, highly available and scalable services

• Have expertise in cloud-based computing principles and practices

• Have deep understanding of CI/CD pipelines, Docker/containerization, Kubernetes/orchestration and AWS

• Have expertise with cloud infrastructure technologies: Terraform, K8S, Spinnaker, IAM, ALB, etc.

• Have experience working with observability tooling (ex. DataDog)

• Have a track record of championing quality engineering, be adamant that all code is written in a way that can be tested with unit tests

• Have experience working with high-performing teams using Agile and Lean methodologies and frameworks

• Have the ability to adapt to new technologies and changing project requirements

• Have excellent verbal and written communication skills, problem-solving and analytical skills

• Have the capability to align technical decisions with business goals to drive innovation within the team

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or related technical discipline is highly desirable

• Experience creating performant User Interfaces leveraging HTML/CSS/JS and React or other frameworks

• Experience with AI (GenAI, Azure/OpenAI APIs, Machine Learning)

• Previous work experience in digital advertising

• Experience working with vendor teams to deliver high quality results

• Experience building Order Management Systems supporting Quote-to-Cash

• Experience working on Design Systems

#DISNEYTECH

The hiring range for this position in Seattle, Washington is $159,500 to $213,900 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.