Manager, Production Software Engineering

Job Summary:

About Disney Branded Television

The Disney Branded Television (DBT) group oversees the creation, development, and production of live-action and animation television content through the Disney Television Animation studio for children, teenagers, and families under the Disney brand. This content is distributed across Disney’s portfolio of platforms, including Disney+, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and other linear and digital outlets.

DBT develops original series, movies, and specials that align with Disney’s family-friendly brand image and resonate with target audiences. These television properties encompass distribution strategies, marketing initiatives, and brand management across a global footprint.

About The Role

DBT’s strong use of commercial and custom software technologies is essential to its production operations and workflows. We’re looking for a technically excellent, collaborative engineering leader to join the Disney Branded Television Technology team as a Manager, Production Software Engineering. In this role, you will be responsible for developing and supporting web-based solutions across DBT Productions and Development, working at the intersection of technology and creative production.

General Responsibilities

The Manager, Production Software Engineering is a technical leadership role that combines hands-on software engineering with team leadership, coordination, and process ownership. This role functions as the technical lead for a web engineering pod within the broader Software Engineering team.

This person is expected to be proficient in both leadership and hands-on coding, though the balance may shift significantly in either direction based on team and production needs. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable leading a team through a complex project while balancing personal deliverables, and can flex to extremes of either mode as circumstances require.

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Serve as the go-to technical expert for web engineering technologies; architect and validate scalable, high-quality web-based systems for enterprise deployment
• Design feature strategy and lead execution of major systems and integrations, collaborating with business partners to ensure solutions meet organizational goals
• Demonstrated ability to architect RESTful APIs, service integrations, and data-driven web applications that serve production workflows

Platform Reliability & Security

• Own the production operation and reliability of web-based systems and services, including monitoring, incident response, SLO management, and continuous improvement
• Champion secure development practices, including threat modeling, dependency management, and compliance with enterprise security standards
• Ensure platform stability during high-demand production cycles

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead and coordinate a team of web engineers, providing effective feedback, moderating technical discussions, and mentoring engineers in their professional growth
• Drive code quality and technical standards through code reviews, testing enforcement, and adoption of best practices, including governance of AI-assisted code generation
• Adjust and evolve team processes by listening to feedback, evaluating workflows, and guiding the team through changes that enhance productivity and quality

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Production Technology, Pipeline Engineering, and Studio Operations teams to ensure web-based systems integrate seamlessly with production workflows and tooling ecosystems
• Communicate technical information effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, translating production needs into engineering solutions

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, software engineering, electrical engineering or equivalent years of professional work experience
• 8+ years of professional web development experience
• 3+ years of experience leading or managing a software development team
• Experience with backend languages and frameworks such as Python, Flask, Django, PHP, or Node.js
• Experience working with React and JavaScript and other modern frontend frameworks (Vue, Angular, etc.)
• Experience designing and maintaining RESTful APIs or GraphQL services
• Experience with databases and caching strategies: MySQL, Postgres, Redis, etc.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) for application hosting and infrastructure management
• Experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and Git-based development workflows
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment practices
• Experience with AI coding tool best practices, including effective use, code review standards for AI-generated code, and security considerations
• Strong understanding of software design patterns and enterprise application architecture
• Demonstrated ability to architect major systems and integrations
• Excellent time management and organizational skills
• Ability to work well individually and collaboratively in a fast-paced, production-critical environment
• Strong written documentation skills
• Familiarity with web accessibility standards (WCAG) and inclusive design principles

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in technical discipline
• Working knowledge of the television, animation, or media production business
• Experience with desktop application development, animation pipeline tools, or related technologies (e.g., Maya/MEL, Qt, C++, image/video processing)
• Experience with observability tooling, distributed tracing, or advanced monitoring platforms
• Experience with platform engineering concepts or internal developer experience (DevEx) tooling
• Experience integrating analytics, telemetry, or data pipelines into web applications
• Creativity in developing intuitive tools and efficient solutions that serve creative and production teams

The hiring range for this position in Glendale, CA is $171,600.00-$230,100.00 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.