Senior Manager, Solutions Architecture

About the Role & Team:

“We Power the Magic!”

That’s our motto at Disney Experiences (DX). Our team creates world-class immersive digital experiences for the Company’s premier vacation brands including Disney Cruise Line, Aulani, Disney Vacation Club, and Disney Parks & Resorts worldwide.

We are responsible for the end-to-end digital and physical Guest experience for technology and digital-led initiatives that power the planning, booking, fulfillment, operations, and Guest experience across Disney Signature Experiences.

The successful candidate must possess strategic leadership skills and technical knowledge that is both broad and deep across software engineering, systems design, architecture, cloud platforms, and modern technology ecosystems. This leader will be responsible for establishing technical direction, guiding solution design, enabling engineering excellence, and ensuring the delivery of scalable, resilient, and highly integrated technology solutions that align with business priorities and enterprise standards. The role requires strong partnership across Product, Engineering, Data, Program, and Business organizations and the ability to influence outcomes in a highly matrixed environment.

You will report to the Director of Software Engineering.
This is a full-time Position.

What You Will Do:

• Provide technical leadership across architecture, design, integration, quality, automation, and operations, ensuring sustainable, scalable, secure, and resilient engineering solutions across Disney Cruise Line and Disney Signature Experiences platforms.
• Develop and maintain strategic technology roadmaps that ensure technical currency, reduce legacy risk, support platform modernization efforts, and advance business goals.
• Establish and drive architectural direction, engineering standards, governance processes, and solution design practices that align technology investments with business strategy and enterprise objectives.
• Lead and mentor multiple cross-functional engineering teams and technical leaders across diverse locations and engagement models, fostering technical excellence, innovation, and organizational growth.
• Provide leadership and engage regularly with stakeholders for resource planning, technical analysis, architecture reviews, solution design decisions, and quality oversight across engineering portfolios.
• Champion continuous improvement in engineering practices, delivery efficiency, operational excellence, and organizational agility through adoption of modern software development and platform engineering capabilities.
• Champion best practices and strategic thinking in the design and delivery of systems and platforms, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, resilient, maintainable, and aligned with a Guest and Crew experience culture.
• Drive domain and technology strategy across web, mobile, cloud, AI, integrations, and enterprise platforms, shaping technical recommendations, architecture patterns, prioritization frameworks, and technology investment decisions.
• Serve as a senior technical leader for complex architecture and technology decisions, balancing business needs, engineering constraints, scalability requirements, security standards, and delivery objectives. Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Data, Program Management, and Business leaders to ensure technology solutions are architecturally sound, practical to implement, and aligned with long-term strategic goals. Lead architecture reviews, technology assessments, proof-of-concept initiatives, and modernization efforts to continuously improve platform capabilities, engineering effectiveness, and operational performance.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with vendors and third-party technology providers, ensuring solutions meet Disney standards for quality, security, performance, reliability, and integration.
• Continuously assess emerging technologies and evolving industry trends to influence strategic direction, improve engineering capabilities, and identify opportunities for business growth and innovation.
• Oversee financial planning and portfolio budgeting processes, ensuring fiscal accuracy, strategic alignment, and reliable forecasting across product and technology investments.

Required Qualifications and Skills:

• Minimum 10 years of progressive technology experience in software engineering, systems design, architecture, platform engineering, or related technical leadership disciplines.
• Demonstrated leadership of large-scale, complex technology initiatives and multidisciplinary engineering organizations.
• 2+ Years of Experience of People Management, leading software engineers, architects, technical leads, vendors, and cross-functional technology partners.
• Strong technical expertise across modern cloud platforms, distributed systems, integration patterns, enterprise applications, web and mobile technologies, and modern software development frameworks.
• Proven ability to establish and implement architectural standards that enable scalable, secure, resilient, and maintainable solutions.
• Experience delivering products and platforms utilizing Agile, DevOps, and modern software engineering practices.
• Strong executive communication, stakeholder management, strategic planning, and organizational leadership capabilities.
• Proven ability to lead in highly matrixed environments, influence without authority, and align technology strategy with business objectives.

Preferred Qualifications and Skills:

• Experience supporting travel, hospitality, cruise, commerce, reservation, fulfillment, or Guest experience platforms.
• Experience leading large-scale digital transformation and platform modernization efforts.
• Expertise in cloud-native architectures and platforms including AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Experience with enterprise architecture governance, technology strategy, and technical operating models.
• Familiarity with SAFe, Agile delivery models, DevSecOps practices, and architecture frameworks such as TOGAF.

Education:

• Bachelor's or foreign equivalent Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience Required.

Additional Information:

Benefits and Perks: Disney offers a rewards package to help you live your best life. This includes health and savings benefits, educational opportunities and special extras that only Disney can provide. Learn more about our benefits and perks at https://jobs.disneycareers.com/benefits. 

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The hiring range for this position in Orlando, FL is $179,500.00-$240,600.00 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.