Job Requirements

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.

Here are a few reasons why we think you’d love working here:

• 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: More than ever, 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. Product Engineering is a unified team responsible for the engineering of Disney Entertainment & ESPN digital and streaming products and platforms. This includes product engineering, media engineering, quality assurance, engineering behind personalization, commerce, lifecycle, and identity.

News & Entertainment (N&E) Machine Learning

The N&E ML team is responsible for building robust data pipelines and advanced machine learning platforms that deliver personalized experiences to users across Disney's News & Entertainment portfolio including ABC News, ABC Entertainment, National Geographic, Marvel, and Disney Studios. Our services leverage machine learning models to enable real-time content personalization and targeted distribution across web, mobile, and connected TV platforms, ensuring that users receive the most relevant and engaging content tailored to their interests. Our mission is to drive seamless, resilient, and low-latency personalized content delivery at scale, while continuously advancing our ML infrastructure and recommendation algorithms across one of the world's most iconic collections of entertainment brands

Job Summary:

As a Product Software Engineer, you will build the backend services and APIs that deliver ML-driven recommendations to end users across the N&E ML Platform. You will develop full-stack solutions in Go and Python, implement caching strategies to reduce latency and cost, and build internal tools such as admin portals and experimentation dashboards that support the broader ML team. You will manage databases supporting ML systems and participate in the on-call rotation for production services. Working under the guidance of senior engineers, your impact will be measured by the efficiency, reliability, and user experience of the systems that deliver personalized content across ABC News, ABC Entertainment, National Geographic, Marvel, and Disney Studios.

Responsibilities:

• Backend Services: Build backend services in Go and Python to serve ML recommendations to end users across the N&E portfolio, working within existing architectural patterns established by senior engineers.
• API Development: Develop and maintain APIs for recommendation delivery, ensuring they meet performance, reliability, and scalability requirements for high-traffic consumer products.
• Caching & Performance: Implement caching strategies to reduce latency and infrastructure cost, applying established patterns and tools to keep response times low at scale.
• Internal Tools: Build internal tools such as admin portals and experimentation dashboards that support the ML team's day-to-day work and decision-making.
• Database Management: Manage and maintain databases (e.g., DynamoDB) supporting ML systems, ensuring data is stored, indexed, and retrieved efficiently.
• Cloud Infrastructure: Build and deploy services using AWS (Lambda, ECS, DynamoDB), following established infrastructure patterns to ensure consistency across the platform.
• On-Call & Reliability: Participate in the on-call rotation for production systems, responding to incidents and helping ensure ML outputs are delivered efficiently and reliably to end users.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience
• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, with full-stack development experience
• Proficiency in Go and Python
• Experience building and maintaining APIs for production services
• Working knowledge of AWS services, including Lambda, ECS, and DynamoDB
• Experience implementing caching strategies to improve performance and reduce cost
• Experience managing databases supporting production applications
• Ability to build internal tools such as admin portals or dashboards for internal stakeholders
• Willingness to participate in an on-call rotation for production systems
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments and collaborating with cross-functional teams

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Elasticsearch
• Exposure to systems serving ML model outputs or recommendations
• Experience working with large-scale, high-traffic consumer platforms
• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools such as Claude, Cursor, or GitHub Copilot

PAY TRANSPARENCY

The hiring range for this position in Burbank, CA, Glendale, CA is $144,100.00 to $193,200.00 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.

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

To learn more about Disney's guidelines on the use of AI for candidates, click here.

Disney Entertainment & Sports LLC 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. 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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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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