Sr Principal Site Reliability Engineer

Job ID 10144162 Location San Francisco, California, United States Business Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology Date posted Apr. 07, 2026

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Job Summary:

P5/P6: SRE Lead, Content Distribution Engineering

Media Engineering. SF CA / LA CA / NYC

Team Intro

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.

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 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.

Job Description

This role will report to the Senior Vice President of Media Engineering, with a scope spanning several departments and hundreds of developers and operators. You will drive high-availability with an ultimate goal of 99.999% incident-free uptime across the entire platform. You will ensure fast response, proactive prevention, effective monitoring, and sound architectural design.

Accountable for platform stability and uptime, from processing platform and content supply chain through CDN delivery and playback.
Develop solid understanding of all critical data flows and ensure proper instrumentation and alerting practices.
Drive redundancy and resiliency strategy across thousands of servers, network links, in both datacenter and cloud environments.
Responsible for Media Engineering’s Incident Response process and ensuring follow-ups and proactive actions to avoid service incidents.
Partner with Infrastructure, Operations, Product, and Development teams to ensure best-practices, conducting audits and reviews across each domain.
Drive automation strategy for more rapid safe releases, tighter content SLAs, and a more efficient organization.

Minimum Qualifications

Minimum of 12 years of engineering leadership experience, including managing and influencing teams directly and indirectly
Bachelors or higher degree in Engineering or a related field, or equiv experience.
Experience working across complex globally connected teams with a variety of stakeholders
Experience with large-scale globally distributed platforms including content preparation, distribution, playback, operations, and infrastructure
Possess a vision for exceptional escalation management and engineering excellence.
Ability to develop and implement and socialize strategies and tactics to drive improvement in stability, system performance, team capability, and operational efficiency.
Knowledge of how to use data to understand and improve business performance.
Passion for developing teams, with a focus on continuous learning.
Track record of developing strong cross-functional and cross-regional relationships.

Preferred Qualifications

Direct experience with major Content Delivery Network integrations

Experience in media streaming technologies, especially media processing workflows and tooling, media players and devices, and content delivery strategies.
Experience with both high-scale back-end services (cloud and datacenter) along with client development on a variety of devices (mobile, web, living room devices).
Experience with Media Operations and/or Infrastructure management

The hiring range for this position in San Francisco is $250,500 - $335,900 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 Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology:

At Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology, we’re blending imagination and innovation to reimagine the ways people experience and engage with the world’s most beloved stories and products. Our work is wide-ranging and deeply sophisticated. We create amazing experiences, transform the future of media, and build products and platforms that enable the connection between people everywhere and the stories and sports they love.

Disney’s ability to marry world-class technology with one-of-a-kind creativity makes us unique. It is at the heart of our past, present, and future. We are Storytellers and Innovators. Creators and Builders. Entertainers and Engineers.

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 Entertainment & Sports LLC, which is part of a business we call Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology.

Disney Entertainment & Sports 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 San Francisco, CA

Famous for grand-dame Victorians, cable cars, a dynamic waterfront, and a soaring golden bridge, San Francisco truly has it all. With trend-defining cuisine ranging from Michelin-starred dining to outrageous food trucks; world-renowned symphony, ballet, theater, and opera; plus almost boundless outdoor adventures, San Francisco justifiably stands out as one of the ultimate must-visit cities on any traveler’s wish list.