Principal Software Engineer C++

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.

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.

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.

Job Summary:

The Hulu Client Engineering team is looking for a Principal Engineer who can help design and build our next generation Client Platform that will be used to power Hulu across a wide range of living room devices.  As part of this team, you will have a unique opportunity to set the long-term vision for a technical strategy on how we can push the boundaries of what is possible on some of the most interesting 10-foot devices in the marketplace!  

We’re looking for an engineer who is an expert writing cross platform code, understands the challenges of supporting multiple client platforms, and is ready to push the boundaries of UX on our custom in-house runtime to provide the best app experiences for our viewers on devices across the varying spectrum from set-top boxes to modern game consoles.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Bring advanced native engineering skills to be a critical member of a team of engineers responsible for designing and building our Client Platform.

• Define a long-term roadmap for the underlying Client Platforms that power Hulu across all living room devices. 

• Design and build functionality at the core of our shared frameworks. 

• Lead high-level architecture discussions and planning sessions. 

• Develop and executed hands-on a maintenance and support strategy for existing frameworks to ensure continued high performance and qualify of the user experience

• Work with hardware manufacturing partners to vet new hardware from a client application perspective.

• Collaborate closely with our Native Client Platform Core engineering team, services engineering teams and product owners to help understand and explain device limitations and requirements.

Basic Qualifications:

• Candidates should have 10+ years of C/C++ experience on embedded systems and/or writing portable multi-platform code, on resource constrained platforms.

• Expertise with web standards and tech stacks, including JavaScript, CSS, HTML5

• Deep understanding of internals of browser technology such as WebKit, Chromium, Cobalt

• Expertise with React and React Native frameworks

• Experience with porting open-source web browsers on embedded systems with many resources constraints (memory, CPU, GPU), such as Chromecast, WebKit, Cobalt, etc

• Experience porting web engines on embedded connected devices such as Smart TVs, smart appliances, consumer media devices, etc.

• Expertise working on user interface-level code in React with knowledge of common patterns, architectures and approaches to present a data driven UX to viewers.

• Understanding of various chip architectures and what features they support.

• Experience using build runners / compilation tools for multi-platform projects.

• Hands-on Debugging and profiling skills, especially with memory management

Preferred Qualifications:

• Graphics experience with OpenGL/EGL, OpenGL ES, Vulkan, Metal, etc.

• Understanding of cross device dependency management

• Knowledge of Game engines and game engine technologies

• Internals of browser technology such as WebKit, Chromium, Cobalt, React Native

• Experience with streaming video (DASH or HLS protocol), codecs, and DRM

Required Education:  

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field or equivalent job experience.

The hiring range for this position in Seattle, WA and in New York City, NY is $193,100 to $258,900 per year; the hiring range for this position in Santa Monica/Burbank/Glendale/L.A., California and in Bristol, Connecticut is $184,300 to $247,100; and the hiring range for this position in San Francisco, California is $201,900 to $270,700 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.