Lead Software Development Engineer in Test

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.

Product Engineering is a unified team responsible for the engineering of Disney Entertainment & ESPN digital and streaming products and platforms. This includes product engineering, media engineering, quality engineering, and the engineering behind personalization, commerce, lifecycle, and identity.

Job Summary:

Join DEEP&T as a Lead Software Engineer – SDET, where you will play a critical role in ensuring the quality and reliability of our entertainment solutions. In this role, you will develop automation, processes, and infrastructure to ensure the quality of the backend API’s (Or front-end clients) and data systems that support the DEEPT Ecosystem. You will drive technical excellence and play a key part in integrating quality across our development lifecycle.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

Drives Quality Engineering Strategy & Architecture

• Leads the design and implementation of scalable, fault-tolerant, cloud-native test architectures across multiple product teams.

• Defines quality engineering strategies aligned with business goals, ensuring alignment with architectural and operational excellence standards.

• Partners with architects, product owners, and engineering leadership to build and refine robust test frameworks and infrastructure.

• Champions the adoption of modern testing practices (shift-left, CI/CD integration, observability, etc.) across the organization.

Technical Leadership and Mentorship 

• Provides technical guidance and mentorship to SDETs and engineers across teams, reviewing architecture, test code, and frameworks.

• Ensures engineering best practices are consistently applied through code reviews, design sessions, and hands-on pairing.

• Facilitates cross-team collaboration to align on common tools, standards, and reusable testing components.

• Leads post-mortem/root cause analysis for critical quality incidents and drives preventive action.

Project Delivery & Governance 

• Leads the planning and execution of multiple testing initiatives in Agile environments, ensuring timely and high-quality deliverables.

• Owns the test strategy for large and complex projects, including defining test metrics, release criteria, and automation goals.

• Ensures governance for quality gates, compliance, and traceability across product teams.

• Identifies cross-functional bottlenecks or risks and drives resolution proactively.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement 

• Builds, enhances, and maintains scalable, reusable test automation frameworks and tools.

• Researches and introduces emerging tools and practices (AI in testing, autonomous testing, etc.) to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

• Tracks quality metrics (e.g., defect escape rate, automation coverage, flakiness) and continuously iterates on testing processes.

• Influences organizational test maturity by driving initiatives in performance testing, security testing, and reliability engineering.

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in software development roles such as SDET, Software Engineer, or Site Reliability Engineer, with a focus on automated and/or unit testing of front-end and/or back-end services.

• Proficient in object-oriented design and experienced with at least one major programming language: Python, Java, or Node.js/JavaScript.

• Demonstrated success working within high-performing teams utilizing Agile and Lean methodologies.

• Strong collaboration skills with a proven ability to use standard SDLC tools including Jira, Confluence, and version control systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience delivering production applications using Python, Flask, Django, React, or Node.js.

• Hands-on experience delivering production backend services and components using Python, or Java.

• Experience developing and deploying applications on cloud platforms such as AWS, with a focus on optimizing cost and efficiency.

• Familiarity with distributed messaging systems such as Kafka, Amazon SQS, or Kinesis.

• Proficient in writing Gherkin Syntax for automated test scenario development.

• Working knowledge of containerization and CI/CD tools, including Docker, Kubernetes, and Spinnaker.

• Experience with test case and issue management tools (e.g., JIRA, Xray), code quality and management tools (e.g., Git, SonarQube), and data visualization tools (e.g., Grafana, Datadog).

Required Education

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent, in Computer Science or a closely related technical field, or equivalent years of relevant work experience.

The hiring range for this position in Glendale, CA & Santa Monica, 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.