Lead Software Engineer - Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)

Job ID 10146000 Location Celebration, Florida, United States Business Disney Experiences Date posted Apr. 28, 2026

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Job Summary:

This is not a remote role. You must be in the area or open to relocation.

Job Description

“We Power the Magic!” That’s our motto at Disney Experiences (DX). Our team creates world-class immersive digital experiences for the Company’s premier vacation brands including Disney’s Parks & Resorts worldwide, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Storyliving by Disney, Adventures by Disney, and National Geographic Expeditions.

This role sits in the Disney Signature Experience organization within Technology & Digital for Disney Experiences. It supports high-visibility, guest-facing digital platforms and works closely with Storyliving by Disney, Adventures by Disney and National Geographic Expeditions (A&E) businesses.

Role Summary:

The Lead Software Engineer owns and evolves the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) cloud platform while serving as a hands-on front-end technical leader for large-scale, guest-facing web experiences.

This role intentionally blends active software development with technical leadership. You will spend meaningful time designing, building, reviewing, and improving code while also setting technical direction, mentoring engineers, and guiding platform strategy. The role emphasizes modern front-end engineering (UI architecture, performance, accessibility, component-driven development) while maintaining full-stack responsibility across AEM, APIs, and back-end systems.

You will partner closely with Product, UX, Content, and Business stakeholders to ensure the AEM platform and front-end ecosystem scale reliably to support best-in-class, high-traffic, revenue-generating digital experiences.

What You’ll Do:

AEM Platform Ownership

Own the technical strategy, roadmap, and overall health of the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) platform
Lead AEM upgrades, security, performance optimization, and scalability initiatives
Lead the evaluation and integration of AI‑enabled capabilities within the AEM ecosystem, including content intelligence, personalization, search, and experience optimization.
Partner with Product and Content teams to enable AI‑assisted content workflows (e.g., content generation, tagging, summarization, or optimization) while maintaining brand quality and governance.
Design, build, and review AEM components, templates, workflows, and content models
Establish and evolve best practices for AEM development, deployment, and operations
Act as the primary technical point of contact with Adobe and manage the vendor relationship

Front-End Technical Leadership (Primary Focus)

Lead front-end architecture for guest-facing web experiences built on AEM
Design and implement reusable UI components and front-end frameworks
Design and implement AI‑enhanced user experiences, such as intelligent search, recommendations, conversational interfaces, or dynamic content personalization.
Write, review, and optimize production-quality code using JavaScript and TypeScript
Provide hands-on technical leadership for React and Angular implementations
Champion performance optimization, accessibility (WCAG), SEO, and responsive design
Partner with UX, Design, and Content teams to translate designs into scalable, maintainable front-end solutions
Drive adoption and consistency of shared UI components and design systems

Full-Stack & Integration Leadership

Design, implement, and review APIs, microservices, and backend integrations supporting business experiences
Contribute hands-on development across the stack as needed to unblock teams or accelerate delivery
Define integration strategies with internal systems and third-party services
Collaborate with architects on cloud-native and AI solutions
Ensure strong alignment between front-end, back-end, and infrastructure layers

Engineering Excellence & Delivery

Actively participate in development while leading code reviews to ensure quality, security, and maintainability
Identify, prioritize, and remediate technical debt through hands-on contribution and backlog planning
Translate business requirements into clear technical designs, stories, and implementation plans
Guide estimation, planning, and delivery of complex initiatives
Ensure CI/CD, monitoring, logging, and observability are built into all solutions
Review and approve solution designs and technical documentation
Ensure you remain up to date with emerging technologies so you can make informed recommendations

Team Leadership & Mentorship

Mentor and coach engineers through code reviews, pairing, and design discussions
Provide technical leadership to both onshore and offshore development teams
Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing engineering culture
Promote effective use of AI‑assisted developer tools to improve code quality, velocity, and documentation.
Lead by example through strong engineering practices, ownership, and accountability

Required Qualifications:

Must have at least 7+ years of professional software engineering experience
Must have 5+ years of hands-on experience with Adobe Experience Manager, including AEM as a Cloud Service
Demonstrated ability to lead technical decision-making, influence architecture across teams, and align engineering solutions with business outcomes
An advocate for a diverse and inclusive culture that encourages innovation and ensures every team member feels a sense of belonging
Strong expertise in modern front-end development using JavaScript and TypeScript
Hands-on experience with Node.js, React and Angular in large-scale applications
Must have solid full-stack experience with Java, Spring, Spring Boot, RESTful APIs, and microservices
Experience designing and operating CI/CD pipelines
Experience with monitoring and observability tools (e.g., Splunk, AppDynamics, etc.)
Strong understanding of object-oriented design and software architecture principles
Experience working in agile development environments

Preferred Qualifications:

10+ years of experience building and supporting enterprise-scale, customer-facing platforms
AEM certifications
Experience with headless or hybrid AEM architectures
Experience integrating AI or ML‑powered services into customer‑facing web applications.
Familiarity with AI‑enabled CMS, personalization, search, or recommendation systems.
Understanding of responsible AI principles in enterprise or consumer‑facing environments.
Experience using AI‑assisted development tools in large engineering teams.
Experience with cloud-based technologies like AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure
Experience with Jira including reviewing and updating requirements and user stories
Expertise creating UML diagrams to document technical implementation

Required Education:

Bachelor’s degree (or foreign equivalent) in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related discipline

#DISNEYTECH

The hiring range for this position in Orlando is $148,300.00 - $180,000.00 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.

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About Disney Experiences:

Disney Experiences brings the magic of Disney stories and franchises to life through theme parks, resorts, cruise ships, unique vacation experiences, products and more around the world. Disney shines in the travel industry with six resort destinations in the United States, Europe and Asia; a top-rated cruise line; a popular vacation ownership program; and an award-winning guided family adventure business. Plus, Disney's global consumer products operations include the world's leading licensing business; the world's largest children's publishing brands; one of the world's largest licensors of games across all platforms; and Disney store locations around the world and on the web.

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 Walt Disney Attractions Technology LLC, which is part of a business we call Disney Experiences.

Walt Disney Attractions 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.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION FOR EMPLOYMENT APPLICATIONS

The Walt Disney Company and its Affiliated Companies are Equal Employment Opportunity employers and welcome all job seekers including individuals with disabilities and veterans with disabilities. If you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation in order to search for a job opening or apply for a position, visit the Disney candidate disability accommodations FAQs. We will only respond to those requests that are related to the accessibility of the online application system due to a disability.

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Hiring Process

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Explore this Location Celebration, FL

The picture-perfect community of Celebration, 25 minutes southwest of Orlando, is a place like no other. Founded by The Walt Disney Company in the 1990s and named one of Forbes Magazine’s prettiest neighborhoods in America, Celebration features an idyllic downtown with architecture inspired by traditional Southern towns.