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Sr Software Engineer

Apply Now Apply Later Job ID 10103151 Location New York, New York, United States / Santa Monica, California, United States / Bristol, Connecticut, United States / Raleigh, North Carolina, United States / San Francisco, California, United States / Seattle, Washington, United States / Morrisville, North Carolina, United States Business Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology Date posted Oct. 16, 2024

Job Summary:

Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology

On any given day at Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology, 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.

  • 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.

Media Engineering is an innovative organization that is passionate about providing the best possible video playback experience, art, and metadata to customers worldwide, powered by exceptional technology. This work requires streamlining and repurposing technology across different business and distribution channels – including streaming, linear, and theatrical – so that technology can ebb and flow across the needs of the business.

The Content Distribution & Origin Team:

We are caching infrastructure professionals who develop scalable caching solutions. We are responsible for the development and operational efficiency of Disney’s owned and operated Origin, Midtier, and Edge appliances, which serve content for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.

The Media Processing & Distribution group is hiring a talented Senior Software Engineer to support the growing Content Distribution & Origin (CDO) Engineering team. The CDO team within Disney’s Media Engineering organization is responsible for the development, support, and management of the content delivery pipeline from the origin to the end user.

Responsibilities:

  • Design and implement caching software for the delivery of streaming media and API responses.

  • Optimize caching performance through scale testing and system hardware/software design

  • Employ the Software Development Lifecycle to gather requirements, gain consensus on design, create robust implementations, and validate through automated testing.

  • Create and manage mechanisms to collect metrics and synthesize meaningful insights with that data.

  • Follow best practices to write documentation, tests, and code.

  • Participate in peer reviews of code and design documentation both as author and reviewer.

  • Cooperatively work within our organization during product upgrade and maintenance tasks.

  • Support production deployments through troubleshooting, tuning, automation, and reliability engineering.

Basic Qualifications:

  • 5+ years of development, systems reliability, or performance optimization experience.

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, or a closely related field

  • Systems programming experience in C or C++.

  • Fluency in scaling HTTP, caching and networking protocols.

  • A strong foundation in streaming video and content distribution.

  • Proven experience building highly performant, stable systems.

  • Skilled at writing unit tests and building automated tests

  • Familiarity with metrics and observability tools such as Influx, Clickhouse or Grafana

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Prior experience with Varnish Cache/VCL or other HTTP caches.

  • Expertise in Linux networking internals and/or storage subsystem.

  • Python/Java/Go experience is useful.

  • Solid troubleshooting and debugging skills.

  • Familiarity with server hardware and the impact on performance of server architectures.

About The Walt Disney Company:

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with the following business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media. From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to its preeminent name in the entertainment industry today, Disney proudly continues its legacy of creating world-class stories and experiences for every member of the family. Disney’s stories, characters and experiences reach consumers and guests from every corner of the globe. With operations in more than 40 countries, our employees and cast members work together to create entertainment experiences that are both universally and locally cherished.

The Walt Disney Company is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status or any other basis prohibited by federal, state or local law. Disney fosters a business culture where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a rapidly changing world.


The hiring range for this position in Seattle, WA and in New York City, NY is $145,400 - $195,000 per year; the hiring range for this position in Santa Monica/Burbank/Glendale/L.A., California and in Bristol, Connecticut is $138,900 - $186,200; and the hiring range for this position in San Francisco, California is $152,100 - $203,900 per year and in Morrisville/Raleigh, North Carolina is $132,200 - $177,300 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.

About Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology:

Disney Entertainment and ESPN Technology (DE&E Technology) provides the technological backbone and product development for Disney’s two media business units, while helping to keep the company at the vanguard of innovation – enabling the Company to continuously leverage technology to enhance storytelling and creativity, while delivering scalability, flexibility, and efficiency for its businesses.

About The Walt Disney Company:

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise that includes three core business segments: Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Experiences. From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to its preeminent name in the entertainment industry today, Disney proudly continues its legacy of creating world-class stories and experiences for every member of the family. Disney’s stories, characters and experiences reach consumers and guests from every corner of the globe. With operations in more than 40 countries, our employees and cast members work together to create entertainment experiences that are both universally and locally cherished.

This position is with Disney Streaming Technology LLC, which is part of a business we call Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology.

Disney Streaming Technology LLC is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, military or veteran status, medical condition, genetic information or disability, or any other basis prohibited by federal, state or local law. Disney champions a business environment where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a constantly evolving world.

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