Lead Software Engineer

At Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology, we're redefining how the world experiences sports, entertainment, and storytelling. Our Media Engineering QA team ensures that the software and systems powering Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ deliver high-quality, seamless viewing experiences across platforms. We ensure the quality of media metadata, audio, video, and operator tools, driving confidence in our content pipelines through automation, metrics, and observability.

Why Join Us

• Scale & Impact: Your work will support streaming experiences enjoyed by millions globally—across Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, ABC, Marvel, and more.
• Innovation at Speed: We build and test services that process and deliver content at scale, enabling rapid product delivery without compromising quality.
• Collaborative Culture: Work alongside world-class engineers in an inclusive, respectful environment that values diverse perspectives and bold ideas.

What You’ll Do

As a Lead Software Engineer in Test, you’ll lead the development of robust test automation, frameworks, and quality strategies that ensure our systems and services work as intended. You'll be a strategic partner to engineering and product teams, embedding quality into every stage of the software development lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect and evolve automation frameworks and tooling used across the media pipeline and backend services.
• Define test strategies and acceptance criteria for complex systems across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
• Lead a team of 1–3 software engineers in test, providing mentorship, technical guidance, and career support.
• Drive quality through metrics, observability, and automation aligned with business priorities.
• Champion code quality by reviewing automation and test code for maintainability, scalability, and performance.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and operations teams to proactively identify risks and deliver high-confidence releases.
• Troubleshoot systemic quality issues spanning automation, environments, or third-party integrations.
• Partner on CI/CD, performance testing, and mocking frameworks to streamline testing at scale.
• Contribute to broader QA strategy across Media Engineering, including reliability, release validation, and test data management.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or the foreign equivalent in Computer Science or a closely related field.
• 7+ years of experience in software engineering or SDET roles, including test automation for complex distributed systems.
• Proficient in Java or other object-oriented programming languages
• Strong knowledge of testing frameworks, architecture design, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience leading small engineering teams and working cross-functionally with engineering squads.
• Proven ability to define, track, and act on quality metrics at scale.
• Excellent debugging, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• Strong organizational and time management skills with a bias toward action.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with cloud platforms like AWS and containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).
• Hands on experience with Generative AI tools (e.g., GPT, GitHub Copilot) in automation workflows.
• Familiarity with video streaming workflows, protocols (HLS, DASH), and metadata.
• Experience building mock frameworks or service virtualization tools.

The hiring range for this position in Santa Monica, CA is $152,200 - $204,100 per year and in Seattle, WA and New York, NY is $159,500 - $213,900 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.