Manager, Software Engineering

Department/Group Overview:

Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology

On any given day at Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology (DEET), we’re reimagining ways to create magical viewing experiences for the world’s most beloved stories while also transforming Disney’s media business for the future. Whether that’s evolving our streaming and digital products in new and immersive ways, powering worldwide advertising and distribution to maximize flexibility and efficiency, or delivering Disney’s unmatched entertainment and sports content, every day is a moment to make a difference to partners and to hundreds of millions of people around the world.

A few reasons why we think you’d love working for Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology

• Building the future of Disney’s media business: DE&E Technologists are designing and building the infrastructure that will power Disney’s media, advertising, and distribution businesses for years to come.
• Reach & Scale: The products and platforms this group builds and operates delight millions of consumers every minute of every day – from Disney+ and Hulu, to ABC News and Entertainment, to ESPN and ESPN+, and much more.
• Innovation: We develop and execute groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and enhance how audiences experience sports, entertainment & news.

The Search, Experience Management, & Images (SEMI) sub-org within DEET collectively serves as the source of truth for experience curation, image delivery, in-app search, content enhancement, and localization. We have a collaborative culture that encourages technical ownership, knowledge sharing, and professional development. We build innovative and cutting-edge capabilities that drive subscriber engagement and monetization across Disney's streaming and digital products.

Job Summary:

As Manager of Software Engineering in the Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology (DEET) organization, you will lead a team of software engineers helping to build and power the end user experience on Disney’s consumer-facing products. Every day, you’ll work with team members across disciplines, implementing solutions to very complex and challenging problems for a variety of systems involved with the Direct-to-Consumer platforms.  We’re looking for a self-motivated team player with a strong desire to improve the people, products, and services they build and support.  Someone who holds themselves and their teammates accountable in a professional, collaborative manner.  An enthusiastic technologist who can provide a fresh perspective and innovative insight to our initiatives.  

If you:

• Demonstrate determination in finding solutions to complex puzzles
• Are an eternal optimist and prioritize inclusivity in a diverse team setting
• Have the curiosity to research and learn new technologies
• Are passionate about technology
• Value learning and collaboration

 
…then working at Disney is unlike anything else. We have the latest technology, game-changing ideas, and world-class talent. Come be a part of our team and help us find new ways to interact with users, however and wherever they connect with our brands.

The Metadata Innovation N Tagging (MINT) team within SEMI is hiring a Software Engineering Manager to enhance and support the Experience Platform for Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, and the other streaming services we support. MINT is responsible for the internal platform tooling that enables our Content Programming team to extend our content catalog with additional geo and temporal metadata overrides to power experiences in our streaming services. This includes the ability to curate Shop links for premier Disney+ titles in the catalog. The tool we support also drives the attribution overrides and other experience metadata that surface on the front-end apps which enhance the overall user experience.  The team has an ambitious product and technical roadmap which will require us to add additional personalization and A/B experimentation integrations in all the metadata we enhance from our core content catalog.

As MINT's Engineering Manager, you'll be part of the leadership team for MINT's parent org, Experience Management, which collectively serves as the source of truth for experience curation, image delivery, in-app search, and localization. We have a collaborative culture that encourages technical ownership, knowledge sharing, and professional development. We maintain an active slate of lunch and learn sessions, and all team members are encouraged to spend some time taking online courses, learning new technologies and methodologies.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Manage a team of software engineers, including regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career growth guidance
• Work with Product Management and the team's Technical Project Manager to coordinate and prioritize the delivery of both product and technical initiatives
• Perform periodic code reviews for your team
• Author and review technical writing including incident postmortems and architecture RFCs
• Spend some portion of your time coding/contributing directly to the team's products
• Hold the team to high standards of software quality
• Participate in interviews for open roles within and outside of your team
• Provide transparent communication to engineering leadership and stakeholders

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

Minimum and Preferred. Inclusive of Licenses/Certs (include functional experience as well as behavioral attributes and/or leadership capabilities)

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience
• 8+ years of relevant software development experience, with at least 2 in a leadership role 
• Fluency with Node/JavaScript and at least one other programming language
• Proficiency with a modern front-end web framework
• Experience building and shipping a full stack web application
• Strong understanding of SQL and relational databases, postgres a plus
• Excellent verbal and written communication

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with any of: Angular, React, NodeJS, TypeScript
• Experience with Docker
• Proficiency with AWS or other cloud services provider

The hiring range for this position in New York is $172,300 - $231,100 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.