Lead Technical Program Manager

Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology: 

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 Business Operations team helps guide and articulate technology strategy and research and is responsible for driving the day-to-day operation of the Product & Technology organization including project and portfolio management and tracking; organization-level capital, space, and resource management and allocation; process management; technical incident management; and our administrative and workplace experience support team.

Program Manager Lead

The Lead Technical Program Manager is responsible for driving the delivery of highly complex programs that align with strategic business priorities. This role requires expert-level management of stakeholder expectations across technical and business domains, with clear and confident communication at all levels. The individual brings deep domain expertise and articulates decision rationale effectively, contributing to the development of both technical and business solutions. As a recognized subject matter expert, the Lead TPM is frequently consulted on cross-functional initiatives and operates independently with minimal oversight. This role earns trust and respect from engineering teams and external stakeholders through consistent leadership, accountability, and strategic insight.

Basic Experience

• 7+ years of experience delivering large strategic programs

• Bachelor’s degree

• Strong facilitation, communication, planning and problem-solving skills.

• Success delivering in a matrix environment and managing multiple stakeholders

• Exposure across multiple technology principles and services including infrastructure, network, applications, data platforms, software engineering

• Proven record of accomplishment building and maintaining relationships with senior management, stakeholders, and team members

• Enhance team throughput by removing roadblocks and leveraging organizational resources while helping to drive teams towards commitments

• Foster cross-team coordination and communication

• Identify, maintain, and visualize metrics to guide the project lifecycle

Skills

• Demonstrates high agency and ownership in driving outcomes.

• Communicates with clarity, precision, and audience awareness—both verbally and in writing.

• Outcome-focused with strong problem-solving and decision-making capabilities.

• Leads through influence with excellent people and stakeholder management skills.

• Possesses strong financial, business, and technical acumen.

• Supports critical cross-organizational strategic initiatives through expert-level program management and stakeholder alignment.

• Strategic thinker with the ability to synthesize ambiguous concepts and drive collaborative prioritization.

• Deep commitment to program success metrics and data-driven insights.

• Experienced in technology operations, governance, and cross-functional program delivery.

• Skilled in negotiation, conflict resolution, and issue management.

• Understands and advocates for service excellence and customer impact.

• Self-motivated, proactive, and able to work independently with minimal oversight.

• Exceptional attention to detail and organizational skills, including planning and scheduling.

• Collaborates effectively in team environments, including remote and vendor teams.

• Comfortable navigating matrixed organizations and managing across multiple workstreams.

• Familiarity with agile methodologies, program lifecycle management, and tooling (e.g., Jira, Airtable, Smartsheet, Confluence).

• Ability to manage risk, dependencies, and change across complex technical programs.

Preferred Experience

• Leads the planning and execution of large-scale physical build-outs and refreshes of broadcast facilities, including the Digital Center and media rooms, ensuring readiness for production operations.

• Manages the design and integration of broadcast studios, including Master Control Room (MCR), Production Control Room (PCR), Audio Control Room (ACR), and REMI environments.

• Oversees infrastructure design, signal flow, and configuration of media platforms such as Evertz Mediator for media playout and network origination.

• Coordinates inter-facility connectivity and ensures compliance with industry standards (e.g., SMPTE, AES) and internal governance requirements.

• Translates production requirements into detailed project plans with clear deliverables that meet strategic objectives.

• Collaborates cross-functionally with engineering, facilities, IT, and production teams to deliver build projects on time and within budget.

• Manages procurement and logistics, including OpEx/CapEx budgeting and forecasting, to support build and integration efforts.

• Focuses on build and integration phases with a clear understanding of handoff to operations and the ongoing support model.

• Maintains thorough documentation and ensures smooth transition of systems and workflows to operations teams post-deployment.