Senior Software Engineer - Post Production / Editorial Tools

At Walt Disney Animation Studios we have a deep commitment to the philosophy that creativity inspires technology, and technology inspires creativity. Engineers in our Production Technology department are charged with developing and implementing new algorithms to solve unique and challenging problems for all of our animated content. We do this working alongside a user base that shares a collaborative environment with us, and uses the code we develop to make our feature films.

We are looking for a talented software engineer to join our Production Technology team, developing user-facing tools and back-end solutions for Editorial and Post Production applications. This role will be responsible for writing software that facilitates various Editorial and Post Production processes.

The ideal candidate must be comfortable supporting a team by bringing fresh insight for shared problem solving, building trust and relationships with users of varying technical skills, and understanding users’ needs/pain points intimately in order to deliver relevant solutions. This is done in deep partnership and collaboration with technical directors, other software & systems engineers, production & technology leads, and others. 

Work Includes

• Work directly with our filmmakers to design, develop, and maintain world class Editorial and Post Production software applications.

• Developing various applications and APIs that interface with the Baselight Color Grading System and AVID’s Media Composer using AAF and OTIO.

• Collaborate with other Disney Technology teams on distributed systems that bridge and contextualize data across all facets of production.

What does it mean to be a developer at Walt Disney Animation Studios?

• Our engineers get the opportunity to work on the full stack of our tools, from developing the underlying algorithms through building intuitive artist-friendly interfaces.

• Work hand in hand with artists and a team of cross-site developers to make the tools we need for the incredibly complex characters/environments featured in our content.

• Develop on top of a highly performant, extendable in-house application framework.

• Develop new artist-centric interaction models using the latest hardware and technologies.

You will succeed in this role if you have:

• The ability to produce readable and testable code, with excellent problem solving, troubleshooting, and debugging skills

• Ability to collaborate with team members across different disciplines

• You care deeply about craftsmanship in your software, and can work backwards from the customer experience.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Required Education

• BS Computer Science, Computer Engineering or equivalent industry experience

Key Qualifications

• 5+ Years designing and developing complex user-facing software in a Studio environment

• Proficiency in Python and/or C++

• Experience working on common Post workflows, including color pipelines and digital cinema delivery

• In depth understanding of the Baselight Color Grading System, or similar system.

• An understanding of Editorial processes and workflows used in filmmaking, including prior work with AVID Media Composer.

Bonus Qualifications

• Strong familiarity with computer hardware and common enterprise server configurations

• Familiarity with the AAF format and/or use of OpenTimelineIO

• Proficiency developing MacOS / iOS applications with Swift

• Experience with distributed systems, their development, operations and observability

• Proficiency developing back-end data management solutions utilizing SQL and/or NoSQL databases

• Leverage machine learning models in conjunction with Post Production tools, such as Media Composer & Baselight, through robust APIs and scalable service layers.

• Apply techniques such as fine-tuning, prompt engineering, and model adaptation using foundation models and LLMs.

• Work with generative models—including diffusion and autoregressive architectures—for image and video generation.

• Experience implementing Web-based solutions

• MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience

The hiring range for this position in California is $141,900.00-$190,300.00 per year based on a 40 hour work week. The amount of hours scheduled per week may vary based on business needs. 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.