Manager, Release Management - DEET, Product & Data Engineering

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 Disney’s 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 maximize 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 think you’d love working for Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology

• Building the future of Disney’s media business: DE&E Technologists are designing and building the infrastructure that will power Disney’s 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 execute groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and enhance how audiences experience sports, entertainment & news.

The Product & Data Engineering team is responsible for end to end development for Disney’s world-class consumer-facing products, including streaming platforms Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, and digital products & experiences across ESPN, Marvel, Disney Studios, NatGeo, and ABC News. The team drives innovation at scale for millions of consumers around the world across Apple, Android, Smart TVs, game consoles, and the web, with our platforms powering core experiences like personalization, search, messaging and data.

Job Summary:

As the Manager, Release Management, you will introduce procedural excellence and drive business initiatives to ensure release and deployment seamlessness across for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN mobile apps. You and your team will be looked upon to identify and mitigate risks associated with future releases, communicate clearly, and set collective path forward You’ll be collaborating with engineering teams and partners to develop and improve processes that increase productivity and efficiency. Aside from being passionate and knowledgeable about technology, to be successful in this role you should have advanced analytical, communication, and project management skills. You must be resourceful, have a strong customer-service orientation, prioritize effectively in demanding environments, initiate solutions, and have advanced interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Responsible for supporting release strategy, developing release plans, schedules, processes, and documentation in collaboration with cross-functional teams. Dive deep into technical systems to triage SW Release risks and issues found, take necessary actions to mitigate them and stay connected to the details to help make the right release tradeoffs

• Develop and enhance program and release criteria, driving release quality metrics and improvements.

• Create, maintain, and communicate program release progress and updates to all stakeholders.

• Serve as an integrator on a wide variety of initiatives to advance segment operations and maximize the overall effectiveness of Product Design, Program Management, and Software Engineering.

• Liaison with Product & Technical Directors for ongoing annual strategic forecasting of Release Management, standardizing workflows and onboarding practices, and ensure web & mobile deliverables meet strategic objectives across all major app platforms.

• Provide data-driven, procedural solutions to drive intelligence on the health of our services, deployments, and releases.

• Facilitate agile methodologies and introduce Engineering-driven problem-solving sessions (e.g. Monthly Innovation Friday) to encourage creativity & synthesis.

• Establish clear internal communication hierarchies, systems/templates for inter-departmental procedural clarity.

• Tactical and strategic/ad-hoc analysis across several different business units.

• Develop internal training sessions, manage, and maintain onboarding practices to enrich the skill sets of all new hires.

• Mentor team members of all disciplines to ensure technical and delivery quality.

Basic Qualifications

• 8+ years of related technology experience, with at least 4+ years working in release management

• Experience in mobile release management and knowledge of mobile platforms (i.e., iOS, Android, App Store, Play Store)

• Experience in agile software development methodologies

• Solid understanding of program and project management principles

• Experience working at the enterprise level in technology

• High EQ and professional maturity, with demonstrated ability to engage at an executive level

• Highly effective oral and written communication skills, ability to develop beneficial relationships and networks in order to achieve results

• Proven experience in influencing business and technology leadership to drive positive lasting outcomes

• Demonstrated experience leading work of others.

• Superb organization, detail-orientation, and project management skills, with the ability to effectively prioritize and balance short and long-term work streams

• Ability to work independently, with guidance in only the most complex situations

• Ability to quickly interpret and synthesize data and information from multiple sources to develop insights and recommendations

• Ability to flex and pivot quickly based on priority shifts and/or changes in workstreams

• Strong presentation and design skills; experience with Keynote, PowerPoint and internal collaboration sites (e.g., Confluence, Wordpress, Box, Office365, etc.)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Airtable

• Ability to act as liaison between business and technologies

• Ability to think creatively and to drive innovation

• Understanding of Disney procedures and corporate culture a plus

Required Education  

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Technology, or a related field

The hiring range for this position in Glendale, CA & Bristol, CT is $149,300 to $200,200 per year and in New York, NY & Seattle, WA is $156,300 to $209,600 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.