Manager, Software Engineer - Video Playback (Apple)

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.

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

• 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 assurance, engineering behind personalization, commerce, lifecycle, and identity.

The Walt Disney Company has a rich tradition of creating innovative products and magical experiences for millions of people around the world. Software Engineering is at the heart of that innovation and magic, building platforms, services, tools and infrastructure for an unmatched collection of content and brands such as Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, and ABC.

Media Engineering builds the software and systems that prepare media content and metadata for the Disney Streaming platform - providing the best possible playback experience to our viewers.

Our team is looking for hardworking team players to join the Media Engineering team, who will embrace unconventional thinking, and who are passionate about contributing to The Walt Disney Company’s video playback experience through strategic hard work and determination.

Our Apple Media Engineering team is seeking a talented Software Engineering Manager to help us deliver excellent streaming experiences for ESPN, Hulu, Disney+, and ABC on our Apple video player.   Our team is responsible for playback across several devices including iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and Vision Pro.  You will have the opportunity to lead talented engineers in the design and implementation of our video player across several impactful products and brands on these devices.

We are looking for an engineering manager with experience in Apple development best practices as well as video player experience.  You should have passion and experience coding in Objective-C or Swift, debugging difficult problems, and eager to deliver a seamless experience to our users.  As an engineering manager, you will lead the technical direction of the team’s work, and mentor and provide technical expertise to our engineering team.  You will work closely with other technical teams to deliver feature-rich video services.

Responsibilities

• Manage a team of software engineers responsible for providing desired functionality to assigned products and services within the Apple video playback ecosystem.
• Manage the development, testing, and implementation of software that meets established specifications on time and within budget.
• Interacting with the Product Development team to review requirements and discuss feature development.
• Guides, influences, and persuades others either internally or  with external software engineering and business stakeholders, customers, or agencies.
• Ensure features deployed meet technical integrity and stability defined in KPIs.
• Accountable for day to day performance of team, operation, and expected results.
• Leads innovation, development, and improvement of tactical work.
• Grow an inclusive team culture around positive intent.

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of 8 years hands-on professional development experience with Apple, Roku, Javascript, Android or similar and/or experience working on a streaming tech stack.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience.
• 2+ years of experience managing software engineers.
• Expertise of OO design patterns and concepts.
• Solid understanding of development of playback and streaming technology.
• Expert understanding of HTTP/S, APIs, and web services.
• Expertise with unit test frameworks and continuous integration systems.
• Solid understanding of architecture.
• Solid foundation and understanding of dynamic multi-threaded mobile apps.
• Motivated self-starter with the ability to learn and adapt to new technologies.
• Ability to collaborate in a small, productive development team as well as the larger engineering organization.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; can effectively articulate complex ideas and influence others through well-reasoned explanations.
• Software Development Lifecycle including App Store compliance policies and submissions requirements.
• Previous experience writing efficient, reliable, and maintainable code whether implementing architectural improvements, user-facing features, or fixing defects.
• Troubleshooting and resolving issues, problems, and errors encountered across various platforms.
• Managing multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in Streaming technologies, including:
  • HLS
  • DRM technologies like Fairplay, Widevine, or Playready
  • Caption and subtitle formats such as CEA-608/708
• Swift, SwiftUI, Objective-C or other software language proficiency based on previous experience
• Previous Work on a significant consumer app that is available in the marketplace

The hiring range for this position in Glendale, CA and Santa Monica, CA is $167,700 to $224,900 per year, in Seattle, WA and New York, NY is $175,800 to 235,700 per year, and in San Francisco, CA is $183,700 to $246,400 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.