Senior Technical Program Manager

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.

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.

Business Operations is the glue of DE&E Technology, with a relentless focus on connecting all the pieces of the business. All the components that make up the organization – engineering, product, design, operations, support and more – come together and move the business forward with oversight, effective prioritization, and guidance. This team synthesizes information from across the business to ensure leaders are armed with all the necessary data before making strategic and financial decisions. From forecasting, funding, tracking, and reporting on projects, to ways of working, and resource management, Business Operations has visibility and input into all aspects of the team.

As a Technical Program Manager, you will focus on the planning and execution of complex programs that may span several areas of Ad Platforms, or may cut across the department and other DEE Technology groups.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and drive activities for large, strategic, technically complex, and high-priority programs.
• Demonstrate proven experience in program management, bringing a proactive and detail-oriented approach to every initiative.
• Work autonomously on multiple assignments while maintaining clarity and precision in execution.
• Develop a strong understanding of technical details to effectively manage and communicate across diverse audiences.
• Communicate schedules, risks, status, and processes clearly and confidently to both business and technical stakeholders.
• Partner closely with project managers and technical leads to coordinate schedules, deliverables, and dependencies, ensuring seamless collaboration.
• Own accountability for program success by anticipating challenges, mitigating risks, and driving alignment across teams.
• Develop plans and timelines, accounting for all dependencies
• Ensure transparency of progress and issues/risks. Proactively drive risk mitigation and contingency planning, along with issue resolution
• Communicate status, updates, and program summaries via presentations, email, and direct communication with key stakeholders and executive leadership
• Ensure that all involved parties understand and accept their roles and responsibilities and are held accountable to their deliverables
• Facilitate all build activities (including QA), as per plan
• Proactively drive, track, and report on budgets
• Perform capacity planning for teams
• Collaborate with other program management colleagues to coordinate activities across multiple technology teams
• Strong understanding of most program domain technical components, including architecture, tools and deployment practices that development team is employing, including cross-system interactions and dependencies
• Track and report key program metrics, informing stakeholders as appropriate
• Independently manage activities and resolve conflict within associated teams, with minimal influence from management
• Effortlessly sift through “noise” and facilitate discussions and activities with a laser focus towards results
• Navigate Disney to effectively drive progress, even when the scope of responsibilities may be unclear
• Exemplify leadership characteristics through collaboration, work ethic, and creative thinking. Strive to inspire others and deliver the best possible outputs
• Coordinate with external vendors, where applicable
• May manage Agile ceremonies and processes at the team-of-teams level

Basic Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience managing large-scale, strategic, software development programs in a well-established global technology organization
• Proven ability to facilitate effective communication across disparate teams
• Expertise in Agile or Waterfall program management methods that may include Scrum, Kanban, and/or Scaled Agile
• Evidence of strong planning, delivery, and problem-solving skills
• Superb written and verbal communications, presentation skills, and meeting facilitation skills (especially when working with senior leadership)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a media technology environment
• Ad tech domain knowledge, or demonstrated aptitude for learning a technology-based engineering domain
• Formal project management certifications

The hiring range for this position in CA is $135,400.00 to $181,600.00 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.