Lead Technical Program Manager

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.

Business Operations is the glue of DE&E Technology, with a relentless focus on connecting all the pieces of the business. All the components that make up the organization – engineering, product, design, operations, support and more – come together and move the business forward with oversight, effective prioritization, and guidance. This team synthesizes information from across the business to ensure leaders are armed with all the necessary data before making strategic and financial decisions. From forecasting, funding, tracking, and reporting on projects, to ways of working, and resource management, Business Operations has visibility and input into all aspects of the team.

Job Summary:

As a Lead Technical Program Manager for the team, you will partner with Engineering Leads to understand engineering needs, translate those needs to engineering requirements, and collaborate with all impacted teams and external partners to ensure the successful launch of many capabilities that will impact our global commerce platform. The right person for this role is proficient in technology and is comfortable with acting as a program strategist for a development team. You will need to move and adapt quickly as needs change. You are encouraged to always maintain a pulse on development progress and manage the inevitable change over the lifecycle of a project so that deadlines are met with excellent products and happy team members.

This position requires proven experience in delivering large, ambiguous, and highly technical programs. Ideal candidates must be highly proactive, detail-oriented, and able to autonomously work on multiple assignments that may span the department. They must be capable of digging into technical details and clearly communicating schedules, risks, status, and processes to a variety of business and technical audiences. They must be able to partner with closely with product managers and technical leads to coordinate schedules and deliverables.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Deliver projects from concept to completion by collaborating with engineering teams, product management, design, and other cross-functional stakeholders.
• Understand architectural and design specifications. Suggest alternate solutions that achieve business goals and/or drive alternate solution development via collaborative mechanisms such as story mapping and whiteboarding.
• Facilitate technical meetings; follow the discussions to summarize and capture outcomes.
• Facilitate team agile ceremonies (standups, grooming, team retrospective and planning sessions) and ensure they are effective and efficient.
• Track team progress against results and determine solutions to get back on-track when things fall behind schedule.
• Engage with the development teams to build delivery timelines of feature sets for projects and be able to sequence the work based on priorities.
• Collaborate with other TPMs to understand cross-team dependencies and prioritize the work to avoid impediments.
• Attend project meetings and be ready represent engineering teams in communicating team progress, risks, and mitigation plans.
• Prioritize multiple team requests and balance that against other priorities and committed work. Must understand the impact of injecting these requests to the team’s backlog.
• Ensure that all involved parties understand and accept their roles and responsibilities.
• Navigate the TWDC to effectively drive progress, even when the scope of responsibilities may be unclear.
• Track and report key program metrics, informing stakeholders as appropriate.
• Facilitate all build activities (including QA and UAT), as per plan (where applicable)
• Proactively drive, track, and report on budgets
• Collaborate with other program management colleagues to coordinate activities across multiple technology teams.
• Effortlessly sift through “noise” and facilitate discussions and activities with a laser focus towards results.
• Exemplify leadership characteristics through collaboration, work ethic, and creative thinking. Strive to inspire others and deliver the best possible outputs.

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

• 7+ years of experience managing large-scale, strategic, software development programs in a well-established global technology organization.
• Proven ability to facilitate effective communication across disparate teams.
• Evidence of strong planning, delivery, and problem-solving skills
• Superb written and verbal communications, presentation skills, and meeting facilitation skills (especially when working with senior leadership)
• BA/BS or equivalent experience required.

The hiring range for this position in Santa Monica, CA is $149,300.00 to $200,200.00 per year and in Seattle, WA is $156,300.00 to $209,600.00 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.