Lead Data Engineer - Quality

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, data scientists, and more – all working to build and advance the technological backbone for Disney’s media business globally.

The team marries technology with creativity to build world-class products, enhance storytelling, and drive velocity, innovation, and scalability for our businesses. We are Storytellers and Innovators. Creators and Builders. Entertainers and Engineers. We work with every part of The Walt Disney Company’s media portfolio to advance the technological foundation and consumer media touch points serving millions of people around the world. 

Here are a few reasons why we think you’d love working here:

• 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: More than ever, Disney’s technology and products serve as a signature doorway for fans' connections with the company’s brands and stories. Disney+. Hulu. ESPN. ABC. ABC News…and many more. These products and brands – and the unmatched stories, storytellers, and events they carry – matter to millions of people globally. 

• Innovation: We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms, and solve complex and distinctive technical problems.

The team is looking for a Lead Software Engineer to join our expanding quality engineering efforts across the Ads, Data, and eCommerce domains. As part of our mission to scale automation and enhance quality across diverse systems, this role will focus on building robust test automation frameworks and quality processes tailored to each team’s unique needs.

In Ads, your work will help ensure that ad delivery systems serve relevant, timely, and high-quality advertisements, maximizing both viewer satisfaction and business revenue. For Data, you’ll ensure the integrity and performance of large-scale pipelines that power analytics and insights used across the organization. In eCommerce, you’ll help maintain seamless shopping experiences by catching integration and service-level issues early in the development cycle.

When these systems work as intended, they drive better customer experiences, increase trust in our platform, and reduce costs associated with bugs in production. As a Lead Software Engineer, you will play a crucial role in strengthening test automation strategies, leading quality initiatives, and championing a culture of engineering excellence.

This is a great opportunity to be part of a talented and collaborative team, with the autonomy to influence test architecture and the support to drive meaningful change. The ideal candidate is innovative, proactive, and thrives in dynamic, fast-paced environments.

If you’re excited by the opportunity to shape quality across core pillars of our business and want your work to be impactful and visible at all levels, we’d love to hear from you.

Role Location: This is a Hybrid role requiring 4 days onsite (Monday-Thursday) in one of the following office locations:

• Santa Monica,

• Glendale, CA

• Seattle, WA

• New York, NY

Responsibilities include:

• Lead the design and implementation of test strategies for complex data pipelines and business logic.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure scalable, testable data solutions.

• Architect and evolve automated testing frameworks across batch and streaming data.

• Define and enforce best practices for testing, monitoring, and CI/CD in data workflows.

• Own and drive strategic data quality initiatives, including stakeholder alignment and execution.

• Mentor engineers, conduct code/test reviews, and support team development.

• Manage direct reports as needed, including coaching, planning, and performance support.

• Introduce and evaluate tools and frameworks to enhance test coverage and automation.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Participate in building architectures which are robust, fault-tolerant, and cloud- native. Builds solutions for problems of sizeable scope and complexity that have been successfully deployed to customers/users. Influences and drives software engineering best practices within the team

• Technically lead and deliver multiple projects utilizing an Agile methodology while reviewing team members code. Participates in developing technical and/or business approaches; and new/enhanced technical tools.

• Share ownership the design and implementation of software programs or systems within the team, and within the organization. Write codes that establishes and enhances frameworks. Review code for the design, testability and clear usability. Build solutions that scale and perform. Identifies opportunities to improve the system/product/services with each iteration.

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

• 7+ years of relevant experience

• Experience in data quality engineering, software testing, or data engineering.

• Strong proficiency in SQL and Python with the ability to validate large datasets.

• Experience with Snowflake, Databricks, Spark, Airflow, or similar tools.

• Proven ability to build and scale automated data testing frameworks.

• Experience leading strategic initiatives and/or managing engineering team members.

• Strong problem-solving and debugging skills; able to anticipate and prevent data issues.

• B.S. in Computer Science (or equivalent degree or work experience)

Nice to have:

• Experience with BDD frameworks (e.g., Behave)

• Experience working in AWS or other cloud environments

• Familiarity with open-source data quality tools like Deequ, Great Expectations, or similar custom frameworks

The hiring range for this position in Los Angeles, CA is $138,900 to $186,000 per year, is $145,400 to $195,000 per year in Seattle, WA and is $145,400 to $195,000 per year in New York City, NY. 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.