Principal Software Engineer
The Walt Disney Company · New York, NY
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- On site
- Full-time
- $230,000 / year
- New York, NY
Job highlights
- Builds backend services for media playback.
- Requires 10+ years of backend architecture experience.
- Uses Scala, Java, and async programming.
- Works with cloud and observability tools.
- Leads architecture and mentoring efforts.
About the role
About Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology
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.
Why Work With Us?
- 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: 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.
About the Role
Media Engineering is an innovative organization that is focused on providing the best possible video playback experience, art, and metadata to customers around the world, powered by exceptional technology. This strategic work requires streamlining and re-purposing 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. Disney Entertainment and ESPN Technology is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join Playback Services within the Media Engineering organization. Our team’s mission is to build highly available, high throughput services that are essential to delivering high quality content to our subscribers. The team is responsible for the backend of media playback, facilitating media selection, device customization, and antipiracy technologies. If you enjoy streaming media, are interested in live sports and entertainment, or just want to join a fast-growing team that plays a critical role in the core functionality of our streaming products, then our team is for you!
Responsibilities
- Work with a team of engineers building software in a collaborative development process
- Work cross-team to build consensus on approach for delivering projects
- Collaborate with business partners to understand and refine requirements
- Eliminate ambiguity in projects and communicate direction to engineers to help team members work in parallel
- Ramp up quickly on existing software to deliver incremental, integrated solutions in a complex environment
- Build high-performance, stable, scalable systems to be deployed in an enterprise setting
- Lead high-level architecture discussions and planning sessions
- Participate in the code review process by assessing pull requests
- Support systems and services during production incidents as part of the on-call rotation
- Author and recommend technical proposals and root cause analyses
- Provide mentoring and advice for other specialists
- Establish engineering practices and standards within the team to drive quality and excellence
- Represent the DSS technical community at presentations, tech talks, and other knowledge-sharing efforts
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience
- 10+ years related experience crafting backend architectures and delivering backend applications in a production environment.
- Expertise in functional programming patterns and experience building RESTful services using Scala or Java APIs; validated knowledge of operating large-scale high-availability backend services
- Understanding of async programming models (events, callbacks, promises, async/await) and threading/concurrency
- Knowledge of source control systems, messaging and caching technologies, CI/CD pipelines, public cloud providers and observability tools for metrics, logging, and monitoring (Git, Jenkins, Docker, Kafka, Kinesis, SQS, DynamoDB, RDBMS, Redis, AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Datadog, Splunk, Grafana)
- Knowledge of AGILE/Scrum practices.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Self-learner, independent, excellent problem-solving skills
Key skills/competency
- Backend Architecture
- RESTful Services
- Scala
- Java
- Asynchronous Programming
- High Availability Systems
- Cloud Providers (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- CI/CD
- Observability Tools
- AGILE/Scrum
Skills & topics
- Principal Software Engineer
- Backend Development
- Scala
- Java
- API Development
- Cloud Computing
- System Architecture
- Media Engineering
- Streaming Technology
- High Availability
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight backend architecture, Scala/Java, and large-scale systems experience.
- Showcase your impact: Quantify achievements in previous roles related to performance and scalability.
- Prepare for technical interviews: Brush up on functional programming, async models, and cloud technologies.
- Demonstrate leadership: Be ready to discuss architecture design and mentoring experience.
- Research Disney Tech: Understand their focus on innovation and media technology.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What are the core technologies for the Principal Software Engineer role at Disney Entertainment?
- The Principal Software Engineer role at Disney Entertainment heavily emphasizes backend development using Scala or Java for RESTful services. Expertise in asynchronous programming models, threading/concurrency, and a strong understanding of cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP are crucial. Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, messaging/caching technologies (Kafka, Redis), and observability tools (Datadog, Splunk) is also essential.
- What level of experience is required for the Principal Software Engineer position at The Walt Disney Company?
- The Walt Disney Company requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience for the Principal Software Engineer role. This experience should focus on crafting backend architectures and delivering backend applications in a production environment, with particular emphasis on large-scale, high-availability services.
- How does Disney Entertainment approach mentorship for Principal Software Engineers?
- As a Principal Software Engineer at Disney Entertainment, you are expected to provide mentoring and advice to other specialists. This role involves establishing engineering practices and standards to drive quality and excellence within the team, contributing to the growth of fellow engineers.
- What is the expected work arrangement for a Principal Software Engineer at Disney Entertainment?
- While the job description doesn't explicitly state the work arrangement, roles at large tech companies like Disney often involve a hybrid or on-site model, especially for principal-level positions requiring collaboration and leadership. Given the global nature of Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology, remote possibilities might exist depending on the specific team and location.
- What is the application process like for a Principal Software Engineer at The Walt Disney Company?
- The application process for a Principal Software Engineer at The Walt Disney Company typically involves resume screening, followed by several rounds of interviews. These interviews often include technical assessments focusing on coding, system design, and behavioral questions to evaluate problem-solving skills, collaboration, and leadership potential. Expect discussions around your experience with backend architectures, Scala/Java, and large-scale systems.
- What kind of projects will a Principal Software Engineer work on at Disney Entertainment?
- A Principal Software Engineer at Disney Entertainment will work on building highly available, high throughput backend services for media playback. This includes facilitating media selection, device customization, and antipiracy technologies, directly impacting the core functionality of streaming products like Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN.