Lead Software Engineer, Machine Learning - Ad Platforms

Ad Platforms organization within Disney Entertainment and ESPN Technology is fully responsible for building, enhancing and maintaining the high-performance, distributed, microservice-based Advertising Platform across all of Disney online properties, including Hulu and ESPN+. We build and maintain proprietary technology, ranging from ad serving and ad delivery, campaign management, reporting as well as all the integrations internal and external that come with evolving and maintaining a best-in-class video advertising business. 

The Ad Platform Decisioning and Machine Learning Platform team is under Ad Platforms and its mission is to enhance advertising and Disney's ad platform with machine learning and AI. We build solutions to find and decide every bit of potential for better advertising results. Our tenant is a strong cross-domain team to deliver E2E solutions covering tech areas ranging from machine learning, big data processing to microservices. Our team is seeking a Lead Software Engineer who will be a core team member for our advertising machine learning platform, which focus on prediction and optimization engines for Disney’s addressable ad platforms. The right person for this role should be experienced in machine learning technologies as well as solid in backend services. If you are someone who is proactive, inquisitive, and innovative in these domains, this is a phenomenal role for you! 

WHAT YOU’LL DO 

• Lead to build components of machine learning platform to enhance every aspect of advertising, including inventory forecasting, ad experience, ad pacing, pricing, targeting, and efficient ad delivery to fit evolving business needs 

• Lead to build next-gen platform to apply state-of-the-art AI based solutions for complicated ad challenges and to further enhance business performance 

• Develop scalable and efficient approaches for large scale data analysis and model development 

• Collaborate with researchers to productize cutting edge innovations at scale 

• Balance architectural and design considerations such as performance, scalability, reusability and flexibility issues 

• Advocate the best engineering practices, including the use of design patterns, CI/CD, code review and automated test 

• Collaborate with researchers, program managers, product managers, and SDET in an open and innovative environment 

• Mentor and guide the professional and technical development of your team members 

WHAT TO BRING 

•  Bachelors Degree in computer science or related field of study 

• 7+ years of professional programming and design experience in Java, Python, Scala, etc. 

• Strong experience for ML technologies with technical stacks like TensorFlow, Kubeflow, PyTorch, Databricks, AWS SageMaker, etc. 

• Experience of building industry level high available and scalable micro-service 

• Experience with big data processing and bigdata technologies 

• Strong knowledge of system / application design and architecture 

• Passionate about understanding the ad business, and seeking innovation opportunities to enhance business effectiveness. 

• Passionate about technology, and open to interdisciplinary collaborations 

• A proven track record of thriving in a fast-paced, data-driven, and collaborative work environment is required. 

NICE-TO-HAVES 

• Domain knowledge about advertising 

• Experience with GenAI technologies and LLMs 

• Experience with feature store, audience segmentation and MLOps