Principal Software Engineer - Frontend

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.

Job Summary:

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will be part of a diverse and talented organization focused on building and maintaining complex web applications for ESPN.  You will be a member of a team creating the world’s #1 sports products working with modern server-side and web technologies such as JavaScript, Node and React to deliver scalable and elegant solutions for new product features and core site architecture.

Beyond performing daily responsibilities working on our team, you will have opportunities to contribute innovative ideas for our product and learn more about the services that allow ESPN to scale and perform. 

Responsibilities

• Build components and modules that are used by millions of fans around the world.
• Bring our UI to life by connecting components to live APIs.
• Work with native teams to develop seamless webview integrations within the ESPN Fantasy apps.
• Support live event coverage and triage issues that come in to ensure an optimal experience for our global audience Coach and mentor teammates in an open, respectful, flexible and empathetic 15%.
• Partner with other engineering teams to solve complex problems while considering performance, scalability, caching, resiliency, and flexibility for expanding product requirements  15%.
• Architect web frameworks for shared solutions across platforms
• Lead code and architectural reviews 60%.
• Competitive frontend industry research 10%.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience.
• 10+ years relevant industry experience.
• Mastery of frontend web development technologies and principles.
• Extensive experience with JavaScript and JS Frameworks, such as React and NodeJS.
• Experience with task Automation (GitLab Pipelines, GitHub Actions, WebPack).
• Experience with full stack programming, including JavaScript/TypeScript/NodeJS, Lua, shells scripting and other similar technologies.
• Strong communication skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to research, learn and evangelize new technologies.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with iOS and Android development technologies and principles, including cross-platform solutions such as React Native and Flutter.
• Understanding of AWS services (e.g., CloudWatch, EC2, S3, etc.).
• HTML / CSS preferred, but not required for this role.

The hiring range for this position in Santa Monica, CA and Glendale, CA is $184,300 to $247,100 per year, in Seattle, WA and New York, NY is $193,100 to $258-900, and in San Francisco, CA is $201,900 to $270,700 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.