Lead Product Software Engineer (DevOps/Deep Web Tech)

Job Summary:

This role aligns with the Engineering strategy of standardizing web delivery across the consumer-facing brands of the N&E Alliance, from the application layer through the edge. Our brand sites include Marvel, National Geographic, Entertainment, ABC.com, StarWars.com, Disney.com, and more than 100 others globally, built at different times by different teams under different technical approaches. The job is to reduce that variance: align the web stacks, remove complexity accumulated over years, and establish paved paths so feature teams can focus on strategic business goals and OKR-driven initiatives.

This is a full-stack role. You will work in the guest-facing application code, in the services and APIs behind it, and in the delivery layer in front of it. That means React and TypeScript frontends and their server-rendered delivery, the APIs and identity integrations they depend on, and the DNS, Route 53, WAF, Varnish, and CloudFront layer that serves them. You will also help define how this organization adopts AI-assisted engineering, which is already changing how fast our teams ship and what our review, observability, and alerting practices need to become.

Job Responsibilities

Full-Stack Engineering: Build, modernize, and own guest-facing web applications end to end, from the rendered front end through the APIs, identity integrations, and caching behavior that make them fast and reliable at scale.

Technical Strategy and Planning: Define and execute a long-term technical strategy across all brand sites, with specific focus on reliability, observability, and delivering high quality on business priorities.

Architecture and Standards: Research, evangelize, and drive adoption of paved-path architecture patterns and engineering standards that hold across brands rather than per site.

Modernization and Migration: Lead migrations of legacy stacks onto current platforms, scoping the work, sequencing it against live traffic, and carrying it to completion without guest-facing regression.

Developer Experience: Reduce engineering friction across the portfolio through tooling, debugging interfaces, deployment models, and automation that let teams ship faster with less risk.

AI-Assisted Engineering: Establish the standards for how AI-assisted development is used across these teams, including review gates, validation, and the observability needed to trust automation in critical paths.

Collaboration and Mentorship: Provide technical guidance and mentoring to senior engineers, conduct effective design reviews, and collaborate with P5-level Engineering Leads on standardization of the stack.

System Integrity: Take accountability for the performance, scalability, and resiliency of mission-critical cloud-based services.

Compliance and Risk Management: Influence department-wide technical planning, including managing technical risks for critical site projects.

Basic Qualifications

• Industry Experience: Minimum of 7 years of relevant experience as a software engineer or architect.
• Full-Stack Web Engineering: Production experience building and shipping guest-facing web applications, including modern front-end frameworks such as React with TypeScript and server-side rendering, along with the backend services and APIs behind them.
• Deep Web Expertise: Strong command of web architecture principles, including HTTP, DNS, caching strategy, and API delivery paradigms such as REST and GraphQL.
• Cloud Proficiency: Hands-on experience developing and maintaining high-volume distributed services on Amazon Web Services, including edge delivery and caching through CloudFront or an equivalent CDN.
• Modernization Track Record: Demonstrated experience leading a legacy platform migration or large-scale standardization effort to completion.
• Technical Influence: Ability to drive technical decisions beyond your own team and communicate complex technical tradeoffs to non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Production configuration of Varnish, HAProxy, or CloudFront, including cache policy design and its interaction with experimentation and personalization.
• Experience building developer tooling, debugging interfaces, or branch-based deployment models.
• Gated AI-assisted development practice, including incremental validation and human review of generated changes.
• Observability and alerting in Datadog.

Required Education

Bachelor''s degree in Computer Science or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

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The hiring range for this position in Glendale, CA is $155,700 to $208,700 per year and in Seattle, WA is $163,100 to $218,700 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.

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