Sr Software Engineer

Job Summary:

Department/Group Overview:

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:

1. 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.

2. 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. 

3. Innovation: We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms, and solve complex and distinctive technical problems.

Content Platforms & Operations is responsible for the development and ongoing advancement of the technical and operational functions driving the worldwide distribution and monetization of Disney’s linear networks and theatrical content. This includes Disney’s media supply chain and storage, network and theatrical distribution operations, media localization, network transmission and origination, and more. The global team also plays a critical role as the primary collaboration point for Product & Technology with Disney’s EMEA, APAC, and LATAM regional business teams.

Real-Time and Event-Driven Systems: This team develops and supports real-time, event-driven systems that ingest, process, and distribute data used across ABC News, ESPN, and Disney platforms during live broadcasts and special events. Engineers work on modern web applications, APIs, and data services that must scale, perform, and remain reliable in fast-paced production environments where accuracy and availability are critical. These systems support both internal editorial tools and on-air and digital experiences seen by millions of viewers.

Job Summary:

The Software Engineer plays a key role in the development and support of real-time data systems, APIs, and web applications used across ABC News and Disney platforms. This role involves designing, building, and maintaining modern services, APIs, and applications using technologies such as Spring Boot, Kafka, SQL Server, and MongoDB, with some frontend development in React where needed, as well as contributing to event-driven services that ingest, process, and distribute data from external providers in real time.

As a senior member of the engineering team, you will work across the stack with a primary focus on designing and developing backend APIs and data processing services, while contributing to frontend applications where needed. This role includes responsibility for system performance, reliability, and data accuracy, as well as supporting production systems and troubleshooting complex issues.

In addition to new development, this role will contribute to the ongoing modernization of legacy systems into a modern service-oriented architecture. You will collaborate closely with other developers, product owners, QA, and operations teams in an Agile environment to deliver reliable and maintainable solutions that perform well under real-world production demands.

This team supports systems used during live broadcasts and major news events throughout the year. You will also participate in event preparation and support during these times including scheduled off-hour coverage as part of a team support rotation. This includes participation in a collaborative critical event support environment where engineers, operations, and production teams work together in real time to support high-visibility broadcasts and ensure accurate, reliable data delivery. Engineers are expected to take ownership of the systems they build and support.

This role is well suited for an engineer who enjoys working with data, APIs, and distributed systems and likes solving real-world problems in production environments. The team supports ongoing development and live production operations, so engineers in this role should be comfortable troubleshooting issues, working collaboratively, and supporting systems during important live events.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Design, develop, and maintain backend services and APIs using Java/Spring Boot and related technologies to power data-driven applications that support real-time systems used across ABC News and Disney platforms.
• Design and build event-driven services and data pipelines that ingest, process, and distribute data from external providers using technologies such as Kafka and related messaging systems.
• Develop and optimize data tiers and processing logic using SQL Server and NoSQL data stores such as MongoDB.
• Lead troubleshooting and resolution of technical issues across multiple systems, including data ingest services, APIs, databases, and user interfaces.
• Own and support production systems by investigating bugs, data issues, and performance bottlenecks, and implementing reliable fixes and improvements.
• Lead or participate in live event preparation and support, including system testing, simulations, and rehearsals for high-profile events.
• Help drive the modernization of legacy systems by migrating functionality to modern service-based architecture.
• Collaborate with product owners, QA, operations, and other engineering teams in an Agile development environment.
• Lead and participate in code reviews and contribute to development standards, best practices, and technical documentation.
• Identify and drive improvements in system performance, monitoring, logging, and reliability through continuous improvement and automation.
• Leverage AI-assisted development tools and AI agent technologies to improve overall SDLC efficiency.
• Support CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and deployment processes in coordination with DevOps and QA teams.
• Work with internal teams and external data providers to support data integration, validation, and issue resolution.

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

Basic Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software development experience, including designing and supporting production systems and backend services in an enterprise environment.
• Experience leading technical efforts or owning features/systems through the full development lifecycle.
• Experience designing and implementing backend services or APIs using Java and Spring Boot or similar enterprise backend frameworks.
• Experience working with relational databases and writing SQL queries.
• Experience working with source control systems such as Git in a collaborative development environment.
• Experience working in Agile development environments and participating in standard Agile ceremonies.
• Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools or AI agent technologies (such as GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, or similar) to improve development productivity and software quality across the software development lifecycle.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with technical and non-technical teams.
• Ability to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues across multiple interconnected systems.
• Experience mentoring or providing technical guidance to other engineers.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with event-driven or messaging systems such as Kafka or similar technologies.
• Experience working with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB.
• Experience building or supporting real-time or data-driven systems.
• Experience supporting production systems in a live or time-sensitive environment.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools, such as GitHub Copilot, to improve productivity, code quality, testing, and documentation.
• Experience working with external data providers or integrating third-party data services.
• Experience developing internal web applications using React or similar modern JavaScript frameworks.
• Experience modernizing or migrating legacy applications to modern architectures.
• Experience with cloud platforms and containerized deployments (AWS, Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience working on systems where data accuracy, reliability, and timeliness are critical.

Required Education  

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

The hiring range for this position in NYC is $148,700 - $199,400 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.