Lead Software Engineer

Department Description:

“We Power the Magic!” That’s our motto at Disney Experiences (DX). Our team creates world-class immersive digital experiences for the Company’s premier vacation brands including Disney’s Parks & Resorts worldwide, Disney Cruise Line, Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, and Disney Vacation Club.

Team Description:

We are responsible for the end-to-end digital and physical Guest experience for all technology & digital-led initiatives across the Attractions & Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Resorts & Transportation and Merchandise lines of business as well as other initiatives including MyDisneyExperience and Hey, Disney!

This role sits in the Disney Cruise Line organization within Technology & Digital for Disney Experiences. It works closely with our product, design and technology teams from across the company.

The Lead Software Engineer will report to the Manager, Software Engineering.

About The Role & Team:

This role leads development of features and sustainment for the Disney Cruise Line Mobile Navigator. The engineering team covers multiple disciplines from mobile development, web development to backend services and database support and the lead engineer should have experience across these areas. The team develops custom solutions for deployment to app stores, the cloud and on-premise data centers on the ships.

The candidate must effectively balance product needs, deadlines, and technical debt to deliver sustainable and upgradable solutions. This will include building out timelines for the technical delivery of features and a roadmap of keeping the technology up to date.

What You’ll Do:

• Own the analysis, design, program, debugging, and modifications of software improvements and/or new products used in shipboard applications. These could be mobile apps on our guest devices, backend services or integrations with other systems.

• Oversee and lead vendor delivery teams, ensuring they understand the scope of work and dependencies and ensuring their delivery meets our requirements and adheres to our architecture standards.

• Work typically involves large or highly sophisticated software programs and systems

• Possess an in-depth knowledge of current programming language and technologies, with strong skills in writing code and completing programming tasks

• May perform or lead testing and debugging of applications, identifying innovative solutions

• Conceive, design, develop, test, and implement software components, fixes, improvements, and/or new systems and applications

• Collaborate with product partners to define system requirements and/or necessary modifications and document technical requirements in Jira

• Drive the technical estimation and planning of highly sophisticated scalable projects and dependencies between mobile and backend workstreams

• You will be expected to stay up to date with emerging technologies so you can make informed recommendations

Required Qualifications & Skills:

• Minimum 7 years of related work experience

• Comfortable working in an agile environment

• An advocate for a diverse and inclusive culture that encourages innovation and ensures every team member feels a sense of belonging

• Strong ability to clearly communicate thoughts and ideas to development and leadership teams

• Minimum 5 years of experience with iOS, Android, Flutter or Java development languages

• Experience designing and leading integrations with front end to backend systems

• Experience managing and maintaining a technical backlog in Jira

• Proven track record of leading and mentoring other developers

Preferred Qualifications:

• Previous experience in the cruise line industry

• Experience implementing GenAI to increase efficiency in development and production support

• Experience with Couchbase and data replication or similar technology

• Experience with implementing and supporting integrations with mobile order and point of sales systems or property management systems

Required Education:

• Bachelor's or foreign equivalent Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience