Software Engineering Manager, Machine Learning - Ad Platforms

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.

Ad Platform Machine Learning Platform Team is responsible for providing a machine learning platform in AWS, Databricks for the data engineering, data science, machine learning research teams to build upon. We cover a wide range of machine learning and AI tools and support these as well as the production environment. The individual we are looking for will provide leadership in all these areas.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead team planning and coordination within each sprint
• Coordinate with the other Ad Platform engineering and research teams
• Build and maintain machine learning platform (Tensorflow, Pytorch, XGboost, etc.) supporting ML/AI model development
• Build and maintain Spark and Flink data pipelines supporting machine learning/AI application
• Troubleshoot issues between teams with respect to project initiatives and technical dependencies
• Mentor team members and participate in their growth as engineers.
• Guide technical solutions to ensure they align with business needs and timelines

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience.
• 2+ years engineering management experience
• 8+ years of software development experience with python, Go or Scala
• 4+ years of big data development experience
• Demonstrable analytical/problem solving skills
• Great communication, collaboration skills and a strong teamwork ethic with both
• technical and non-technical audiences

Preferred Qualification:

• 4+ years of machine learning engineering experience
• Experience with Tensorflow, Pytorch, XGboost
• Experience managing Spark and/or Flink on Databricks or on Kubernetes/EKS
• Experience with GenAI and LLM
• Experience with AWS
• Experience managing Databricks environments on AWS
• Experience with Apache Airflow
• Ad Tech industry experience

The hiring range for this position in Los Angeles, CA is $184,300 - $247,100 per year, in Seattle, WA is $193,100 - $258,900, and in San Francisco, CA is $201,900 - $270,700. 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.