Principal Software Engineer

About the Team

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, and data scientists working to build and advance the technological backbone for Disney's media business globally. We are Storytellers and Innovators, Creators and Builders, Entertainers and Engineers.

Our team marries technology with creativity to build world-class products, enhance storytelling, and drive velocity, innovation, and scalability. We work with every part of The Walt Disney Company's media portfolio to advance the technological foundation and consumer media touchpoints serving millions of people around the world.

Ad Platforms is responsible for Disney's industry-leading ad technology and products, driving advertising performance and value across sports, news, and entertainment content. As part of Ad Platform Engineering, the programmatic teams build and maintain Disney's programmatic advertising suite, including DRAX (Disney's Real-time Ad Exchange). DRAX is an award-winning, proprietary SSP that enables the configuration of programmatic deals and integrates demand from multiple third-party sources into the Disney ad server in real time.

Why Join Us

• 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: Disney's technology and products serve as a signature doorway for fans' connections with the company's brands and stories. Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, ABC, and ABC News matter to millions of people globally.
• Innovation: We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and solve complex, distinctive technical problems.

The Role

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will apply your experience, deep technical knowledge, and leadership skills to help teams innovate and create scalable, performant, and maintainable software systems. You will own and orchestrate the implementation of complex projects spanning multiple cross-functional teams, interpreting product requirements to drive execution. Your work will involve designing robust distributed systems, improving system observability, and defining high-throughput, low-latency microservices architectures.

In this dynamic environment, you will mentor colleagues, advocate for technical standards, and collaborate with product teams to translate requirements into well-defined technical implementations. You will also utilize automated tools and AI where appropriate to optimize ad serving systems, ensuring efficiency and feature deployment speed.

Culture & Values

We value kindness and pragmatic optimism. We seek individuals who bring a willingness to collaborate effectively across organizations, a drive to learn and adapt, and a unique perspective to our team. We believe in the power of technology to connect people with stories and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diverse backgrounds and experiences are celebrated.

Equal Opportunity

Disney is an equal opportunity employer. We consider qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other protected characteristics.