Software Engineer - Product

About the CompanyDisney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is a global organization of engineers, product developers, designers, technologists, data scientists, and other specialists building the technological foundation for Disney's global media business.The organization combines technology and creativity to develop world-class products, enhance storytelling, and drive innovation, velocity, and scalability across Disney's media portfolio. Its platforms and products support globally recognized brands and experiences, including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, ABC, and ABC News.About the RoleDisney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is seeking a Principal Product Software Engineer to help build and operate critical commerce services supporting millions of users across web, mobile, and living-room devices.This is a senior technical leadership role focused on large-scale distributed systems, architecture, engineering standards, application performance, scalability, and reliability. The Principal Engineer will work across engineering organizations to identify reusable architectural patterns, influence technical direction, establish consistent frameworks, and drive engineering excellence.The ideal candidate combines deep software engineering expertise with strong architectural judgment, leadership, communication, and mentoring capabilities.Key ResponsibilitiesCollaborate with distributed engineering teams across multiple organizations to design and build software at scale.Identify architectural and engineering patterns that can help teams scale effectively.Develop technical proposals and drive adoption of proven architectural patterns across teams.Challenge existing architectural decisions and collaborate with engineering partners to develop innovative solutions.Drive adoption of consistent technical frameworks and engineering standards across the organization.Promote best practices for writing well-structured, maintainable, defensive, and robust code.Establish and promote effective testing strategies to improve software quality and reliability.Use application metrics and operational data to understand system performance, reliability, and cost.Identify opportunities to improve application efficiency, scalability, and infrastructure costs.Champion cross-team engineering initiatives and strategic technical projects.Collaborate with product management, technical program management, operations, and engineering teams to understand requirements and drive implementation.Provide technical transparency and communicate progress, challenges, and outcomes to stakeholders.Coach and mentor engineers and technical specialists while promoting industry best practices.Provide broad, systems-level perspectives when solving complex technical and architectural problems.Required QualificationsBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a comparable technical field.10+ years of related software engineering experience building large-scale, highly available services.Strong experience developing services using Java, Scala, or similar programming languages.Strong understanding of object-oriented programming and computer science fundamentals.Deep knowledge of data structures, algorithms, databases, SQL, NoSQL, and distributed systems.Experience working with database and messaging technologies in large-scale production environments.Experience with source control systems and CI/CD pipelines.Demonstrated ability to work effectively both independently and collaboratively.Experience championing and delivering cross-team engineering initiatives.Experience coaching and mentoring engineers and technical specialists.Experience collaborating with product, technical program management, operations, and engineering stakeholders.Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with a broad technical perspective.Excellent written and verbal communication skills.Experience directly managing and mentoring a technical team.Preferred Leadership & Technical SkillsLarge-scale distributed systems architecture.Highly available and fault-tolerant services.Java and JVM-based backend development.Object-oriented software design.SQL and NoSQL database technologies.Messaging and event-driven architectures.CI/CD and modern software delivery practices.Application performance monitoring and optimization.Cloud-scale service reliability and scalability.Engineering standards and reusable architectural frameworks.Technical strategy and cross-organizational influence.Engineering mentorship and people leadership.Product Engineering EnvironmentProduct Engineering is a unified engineering organization responsible for Disney Entertainment and ESPN's digital and streaming products and platforms.Teams work across areas including:Product engineeringMedia engineeringQuality assurancePersonalizationCommerceLifecycle managementIdentityDigital and streaming platformsThe role will contribute to commerce workflows and reliable, high-request services that power consumer experiences across multiple platforms and devices.Compensation & BenefitsThe hiring range for this position is:San Francisco, California: $206,400–$276,700 per yearNew York, New York: $197,400–$264,700 per yearActual base pay may vary based on internal equity, geographic location, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other factors.The total compensation package may also include bonus and/or long-term incentive units, along with medical, financial, and other benefits depending on the level and position offered.Why Join Disney Entertainment & ESPN Product & Technology?This role offers the opportunity to work on technology platforms that connect millions of people worldwide with Disney's entertainment, sports, and storytelling experiences. Principal Engineers have the opportunity to influence architecture across organizations, solve complex technical challenges, mentor engineering talent, and help shape the future of Disney's digital and streaming ecosystem.Equal Opportunity & InclusionThe Walt Disney Company is committed to building an inclusive workplace where employees can contribute their skills, perspectives, and creativity while helping create technology and experiences that reach audiences around the world.