Senior Software Engineer

Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology

On any given day at Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology, we’re reimagining ways to create magical viewing experiences for the world’s most beloved stories while also transforming our media business for the future. Whether that’s evolving our streaming and digital products in new and immersive ways, powering worldwide advertising and distribution to enhance flexibility and efficiency, or delivering Disney’s unmatched entertainment and sports content, every day is a moment to make a difference to partners and to hundreds of millions of people around the world.

A few reasons why we believe you’d love working here:

• Building the future of Disney’s media: DE&E Technologists are designing and building the infrastructure that will power our media, advertising, and distribution businesses for years to come.

• Reach & Scale: The products and platforms this group builds and operates delight millions of consumers every minute of every day – from Disney+ and Hulu, to ABC News and Entertainment, to ESPN and ESPN+, and much more.

• Innovation: We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and improve how audiences experience sports, entertainment & news.

Media Engineering is an innovative organization that is focused on providing the best possible video playback experience, art, and metadata to customers around the world, powered by exceptional technology. This strategic work requires streamlining and repurposing technology across different business and distribution channels – including streaming, linear, and theatrical – so that technology can ebb and flow across the needs of the business.

System Engineering & Integration (SEI)

The System Engineering & Integration (SEI) team is seeking a seasoned Senior Software Engineer with advanced digital media processing knowledge and background. You will lead the system integration efforts necessary to deliver high quality software-based encoding solutions in the fast paced, dynamic environment of ESPN’s broadcast infrastructure. You will be developing software that will provide advanced automated coverage, allowing for per-build smoke tests, overnight test suites, and enhancements to our CI/CD practices.  You will be tasked with developing updates, when needed, to the encoding code base as well as conducting and participating in software change reviews.  You will also be responsible for validating software updates from adjacent development teams as well as working closely with ESPN engineering staff to facilitate production-like testing before deployment.  You will be involved in Proof-of-Concept investigations, staging, and integrating 3rd party hardware solutions into our existing encoder.

Responsibilities

• Validate software updates for Disney’s media processing applications in an environment that closely resembles Production.

• Develop software using Python to provide highly technical automation coverage for complex encoding workflows and report trusted results to stakeholders.

• Work closely with ESPN broadcast engineers to provide insight on updates delivered by new software releases.

• Provide code updates for bug fixes and features to the encoder software library.

• Work with development teams to facilitate activities that will gather information, provide Proof-of-Concept insights, and obtain performance and resiliency metrics from within ESPN’s environment that otherwise is unavailable to offsite engineers.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience.

• 5+ years working in the streaming industry.

• Advanced understanding of video/audio processing (encoding/transcoding), streaming standards (Mpeg-TS Multicast, HLS, etc.), and methodologies used within the industry.

• 5+ years experience developing software with Python, C/C++ (OO)

• 5+ years experience developing test and workflow automation

•  Experience working in Agile software development organizations

• Advanced experience with Linux

• Knowledge and experience working with REST APIs

• Knowledge and experience testing Object-Oriented software; specifically, C/C++

• Work ethic to be a self-starter and drive towards release dates.

• Able and willing to engage and collaborate outside immediate team.

• Excellent communications skills; written and verbal.

The hiring range for this position in Seattle, WA and in New York City, NY is $142,516 to $191,180 per year; the hiring range for this position in Santa Monica/Burbank/Glendale/L.A., California and in Bristol, Connecticut is $136,038 to $182,490; and the hiring range for this position in San Francisco, California is $148,994 to $199,870 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.