Sr. Systems Engineer - Platform & Infrastructure, Render Services

The Platform & Infrastructure team at Walt Disney Animation Studios, is responsible for building tools and managing infrastructure that the studio uses daily to assist with creating celebrated feature animation films. Among other things, the team designs, implements, and manages the tools and infrastructure for artist desktops, storage, and rendering systems. We are seeking a Senior Engineer with strong expertise in enterprise systems architecture, as well as Linux expertise, to aid in the innovation and support the next generation of tools and services needed for our current and future films.

The Sr. Engineer role will contribute to improving the highly available and scalable Linux infrastructure services at the Studio. This includes system analysis, design, troubleshooting, and integration of new products and developing tools, as well as strategies to improve existing systems. 

 

Qualified candidates will have demonstrated expertise in design and management of tools and services dedicated to Linux desktop, high performance storage, and render-farm operations. Critical to success in this role is an aptitude for working with a technical team to develop requirements and strategies, and to support the Linux infrastructure.

 

Responsibilities

• Take a leading role in architecting, implementation and support infrastructure to deliver systems and services with high availability and reliability

• Take a leading role in the design and implementation of high performance compute-farm, high performance storage, and render job scheduling software

• Perform cross-functional troubleshooting of complex issues, as required

• Demonstrated ownership for the projects delivered by your new team and department

• A passion for mentoring, learning, and adapting to a very dynamic and fast paced environment

• A proven ability to work with product teams to translate requirements into well-defined technical implementations, as well as the ability to define

• A keen eye for potential optimizations and/or enhancements to our services

• Manage multiple projects, balance, and prioritize work

• Document engineering solutions so that services are delivered in an effective and efficient manner

• Perform special projects, other duties or functions as requested by management or assigned

• Establishes and maintains good working relationships with all team members, partners, and customers and demonstrates a willingness to collaborate on all things

• Adhere to all policies, rules, regulations, and procedures

Required Qualifications:

• BS or MS in Computer Science/Engineering or relevant work experience

• 5+ years of software engineering experience

• Strong analytical skills

• Strong programming (C/C++ and Python or other related programming languages)

• Understanding of the Linux kernel and/or deep system level design knowledge, and native C APIs

• Familiarity with QT C++ APIs

• Strong knowledge of network attached storage and access protocols, such as NFS or SMB

• Great communication, collaboration skills and a strong teamwork ethic with both technical and non-technical audiences

• Strive for excellence

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with both relational and non-relational database technologies such as MongoDB, ELK, and Postgres

• AWS, GCP or any other cloud platform

• Experience with Terraform, Docker and Kubernetes

• Experience with media and entertainment workflows

• Basic understanding of network routing, switching and network security principles

• Knowledge of storage area networking

The hiring range for this position in California is $112,586 - $151,030 per year based on a 40 hour work week. The amount of hours scheduled per week may vary based on business needs. 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.