Lead Broadcast Architect

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.

Content Platforms & Operations is responsible for the development and ongoing advancement of the technical and operational functions driving the worldwide distribution and monetization of Disney’s linear networks and theatrical content. This includes Disney’s media supply chain and storage, network and theatrical distribution operations, media localization, network transmission and origination, and more. The global team also plays a critical role as the primary collaboration point for Product & Technology with Disney’s EMEA, APAC, and LATAM regional business teams.

The Advanced Technology Group operates at the intersection of emerging technology and media operations. We identify, prototype, and deploy innovative solutions that transform how Disney creates, manages, and delivers content across our global portfolio. Our team bridges the gap between cutting-edge capabilities and the practical realities of broadcast and media production workflows by designing a complete and complex framework, system or product.

Job Summary:

We are seeking a Lead Broadcasting Architect, AI & Automation to join our Advanced Technology Group. This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of media production at one of the world's most iconic entertainment companies. You will be the technical architect and hands-on engineer responsible for designing and deploying AI-powered solutions that transform legacy broadcast infrastructure and media workflows.

In this role, you will operate at the critical intersection of modern AI technologies and established broadcast systems. You'll integrate large language models, computer vision, and intelligent automation into media asset management systems, production control environments, and content delivery pipelines. Your work will directly impact how Disney creates and distributes content across ESPN, ABC, Disney+, Hulu, and our global entertainment portfolio.

This is a highly independent, hands-on engineering role. You'll be the primary software engineer on a collaborative, multidisciplinary team where you'll have the autonomy to architect solutions, write production code, and deploy AI systems that solve real operational challenges. If you're energized by the challenge of making sophisticated AI accessible and practical for media professionals, this role offers an opportunity to drive meaningful innovation at scale.

Responsibilities:

• Design and build production-grade AI systems that integrate with Disney's existing broadcast infrastructure, including media asset management (MAM) systems, master control, and third-party broadcast tools (e.g., Evertz, Skyline DataMiner)
• Develop intelligent workflow automation solutions that bridge legacy broadcast systems with modern AI capabilities, creating seamless data flow between disparate platforms
• Build and deploy APIs and microservices that expose AI capabilities to production teams, enabling real-time insights and decision support during live operations.
• Leverage large language models through APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock) and local models to create transformative solutions for content metadata generation, workflow optimization, and operational intelligence.
• Design and implement sophisticated prompt engineering strategies and orchestration frameworks (LangChain, Model Context Protocol) to build reliable AI applications.
• Fine-tune and customize models for domain-specific applications within broadcast and media production contexts when necessary.
• Build and maintain robust MLOps pipelines for model deployment, monitoring, and iteration in cloud environments (AWS/GCP).
• Implement containerized AI services using Docker and Kubernetes, ensuring high availability and scalability for production broadcast systems.
• Establish best practices for model usage, performance monitoring, and operational reliability.
• Partner directly with broadcast engineers, media operations teams, and cross-functional partners to understand workflow challenges and translate them into technical requirements.
• Communicate AI capabilities and limitations clearly to non-technical stakeholders, building trust and understanding across the organization.
• Prototype and demonstrate new AI capabilities to stakeholders, gathering feedback and iterating rapidly.

Basic Qualifications:

• A minimum of 7-years of relevant engineering experience, with demonstrated experience using applied AI.
• Proven track record of independently designing, building, and deploying systems that integrate with existing enterprise infrastructure.
• Experience working with APIs, databases, and third-party enterprise software systems.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience in broadcast, media technology, or entertainment production environments.
• Familiarity with media asset management (MAM) systems and broadcast workflow tools.
• Understanding of media production workflows, including live production, post-production, or content delivery systems.
• Knowledge of broadcast systems vendors and tools (e.g., Evertz, DataMiner, TAG, Grass Valley, etc.).
• Experience with foundation models for custom, domain-specific applications.
• Familiarity with or multimodal AI models applied to media content.
• Familiarity with vector databases and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures.
• Experience building real-time AI systems or processing streaming data
• Knowledge of video codecs, streaming protocols, or media standards (SMPTE).
• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code tools.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for diverse audiences
• Python for production software development
• Building with major LLM APIs (Google Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, Anthropic, OpenAI) and orchestration frameworks (LangChain, Machine Context Protocol)
• Prompt engineering skills and demonstrated ability to design reliable, production-ready AI applications
• MLOps practices, including model deployment, monitoring, and CI/CD pipelines
• Containerization (Docker) and orchestration technologies (Kubernetes)
• Cloud infrastructure platforms (AWS or GCP), including deploying and managing AI services in production environments
• Infrastructure-as-Code tools (Terraform, CloudFormation)
• Video codecs, streaming protocols, or media standards (e.g., SMPTE)

The hiring range for this position in New York, NY is $148,700 - $199,400 per year and in Glendale, CA is $141,900 - $190,300 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.