Executive Director, Infrastructure Engineering

Job Summary:

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.

About the Role:

As the Executive Director, Infrastructure Engineering, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the technological backbone that powers a global media business. This executive-level position is responsible for leading a global, cross-functional organization that designs, implements, and supports integrated systems for high-quality media content delivery. Your leadership will ensure the performance, scalability, security, and resilience of enterprise-level platforms, driving innovation and operational excellence across the company.

Responsibilities:

• Provide executive leadership and direction to solution engineering functions, including Site Reliability, Storage systems, computer systems, QA, and Systems Engineering.
• Define strategic vision, operational objectives, and measurable goals aligned to enterprise technology and business outcomes.
• Build and execute workforce strategies—recruiting, developing, and retaining top talent across engineering disciplines.
• Oversee organizational design and realignment to promote agility and responsiveness to evolving business needs.
• Direct the architecture and operationalization of scalable solutions supporting high-throughput production/content platforms.
• Champion the implementation of efficient CI/CD pipelines, on-prem and cloud-native services, and observability automation.
• Collaborate with systems engineering and product engineering teams to ensure operational readiness and continuous improvement.
• Define and operationalize engineering standards and KPIs related to security, performance, and availability.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to senior leadership on platform health, system incidents, risk mitigation, and technical roadmap alignment.
• Lead cross-functional engagement to ensure platform capabilities meet the evolving needs of business units and customers.

Required Qualifications:

• 12+ years of related experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, or related technical field.
• Proven experience in leading global, cross-functional engineering teams.
• Strong strategic vision and operational execution skills.
• Expertise in scalable solution architecture and operationalization.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, cloud-native services, and observability automation.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills.
• Strong leadership and talent development capabilities.
• Ability to drive engineering excellence through documentation and process maturity.
• Experience in managing third-party vendor relationships.

Preferred Qualifications:

• MS in Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline.
• Experience with distributed systems modernization.
• Knowledge of security, performance, and availability standards.
• Experience in fostering a culture of reusability and modularity.

Required Education  

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, or related technical field.

The hiring range for this position in Glendale, CA and Bristol, CT is $251,900.00 to $337,800.00 per year and in New York, NY is $263,900.00 to $353,900.00 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.