Senior Technical Program Manager

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. 

The Business Operations team helps guide and articulate technology strategy and research, and is responsible for driving the day-to-day operation of the Product & Technology organization, including: project and portfolio management and tracking; organization-level capital, space, and resource management and allocation; process management; technical incident management; and our administrative and workplace experience support team.

This position is part of the Global Program Management team which manages the execution of DE&E Technology programs, including scope, delivery schedules and budgets in addition to identifying dependencies, managing risks and quantifying business impact. This role collaborates with Product, Engineering and QA to understand and rationalize strategic roadmaps while providing easy to understand, transparent reporting to leadership during delivery.

Job Summary:

Within the Business Operations organization the Technical Program Manager is responsible for managing small through large-scale, complex projects in the Software Engineering area from initiation through closure. These initiatives will involve daily hands-on management of technology activities utilizing Agile and Scrum based software development practices; and may include working with other technical teams to effectively deliver business solutions.

This role requires a wide range of leadership competencies, technical (PM) experience and communications skills. Responsible for managing projects using DE&E Technology processes, tools and methodologies, which includes the development of the scope of work and the management of time, cost, risk, and communications.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role: 

• Lead execution of cross-functional technical programs.
• Act as Scrum Lead for one or more agile teams—facilitating sprint planning, stand-ups, retrospectives, and backlog refinement.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Design, and QA leads to ensure roadmaps are actionable, realistic, and aligned with long-term business goals.
• Drive accountability and team health to help teams stay focused, remove blockers, and improve velocity over time.
• Anticipate integration challenges between teams and systems by surfacing and resolving cross-functional risks and dependencies early.
• Facilitate and participate in technical design reviews, contributing to clarity in decision-making and ensuring alignment across stakeholders.
• Translate complex technical concepts into accessible language for partners across the business, from editorial and content ops to executive stakeholders.
• Define and track key metrics for delivery and quality and use data to identify areas for continuous improvement.
• Foster a collaborative, transparent, and inclusive team culture.

Technical Proficiency

• Intermediate understanding of technical domains relevant to media (e.g., mobile, web and living device development, streaming infrastructure, video pipelines, CDN architecture, media asset management).
• Can analyze and facilitate decisions around technical challenges with some direction from engineers.
• Helps bridge technical and non-technical worlds by connecting dots between backend services, APIs, delivery pipelines, and user-facing applications.
• Comfortable guiding technical discussions and identifying trade-offs.

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

• Minimum Qualifications:
  • 5+ years of experience in technical program management, with at least 4+ years leading Agile software teams as a Scrum Lead or equivalent.
  • A strong delivery mindset. Able to lead programs from ambiguity to clarity, idea to launch.
  • Experience in media, streaming, or digital content technologies is a plus.
  • Excellent communication, organization, and stakeholder management skills—you’re the connective tissue between teams.
  • Hands-on experience with Agile tools like Jira, Confluence, and a working knowledge of Agile/Scrum principles and ceremonies.
  • Extensive knowledge and experience with the software development lifecycle.
  • BA/BS or equivalent experience required.
• Preferred Qualifications:
  • CSM / CSP Certification preferred.
  • Experience in streaming media software and digital technology.
  • Experience with backend systems, machine learning, and personalization a plus.
  • Have some technical proficiency demonstrated in any number of ways, ex. coding skills, quality assurance experience or technical writing background or similar.

The hiring range for this position in Glendale, CA is $129,300 to $173,300 per year and in Bristol, CT is $129,300 to $173,000 per year and in New York, NY is $135,000 to $181,600. 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.