Software Engineering Intern, Summer 2026

About the Role & Program

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. 

Ad Platforms is responsible for Disney’s industry-leading ad technology and products – driving advertising performance, innovation, and value in Disney’s sports, news, and entertainment content, across all media platforms.

The Ad Serving Engineering organization within Disney Entertainment and ESPN is responsible for building, enhancing, and maintaining a high-performance, distributed, microservice-based Digital Advertising Platform. This platform powers the qualification, delivery, and tracking of digital advertising campaigns—including Video on Demand, Live TV, and interactive ads—across Disney’s online properties, including Hulu and ESPN+.

Ad Serving teams also develop supporting components such as anti-ad fatigue systems, impression counting pipelines, and ad experience flows, while integrating with critical services responsible for ad pacing, targeting, and selection.

As a Software Engineering Intern, you will be joining the Ad Platforms AI Platform Enablement team, which builds the foundation and reusable components for AI adoption across Ads. The team focuses on creating and enhancing common AI agents, integrating AI tools and APIs, and developing secure, reliable LLM integrations that enable operational and creative innovation at scale. The team is also building out AI video generation tooling and operational agents that showcase platform capabilities and provide reusable patterns for engineering teams.

What You Will Do

• Write clean, well-documented code and accompanying tests, primarily in Python.

• Contribute to the deployment of services and monitor execution in real-world systems.

• Learn, review, and document software and system designs for AI-enabled applications.

• Enhance observability of AI workflows by adding metrics, logging, and monitoring to improve reliability.

• Build and improve reusable AI agents and integrations with APIs and services.

• Collaborate with engineers across the platform team to deliver on sprint commitments.

Required Qualifications & Skills

• Experience in Python.

• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written.

• Familiarity with APIs, RESTful services, and JSON.

• Basic knowledge of Git or other version control systems.

• Strong ability to multi-task and context-switch with ease in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

• Detail-oriented and process-driven approach to problem solving.

Preferred Qualifications & Skills

• Exposure to libraries or frameworks for AI LLM integration (e.g., LangChain, LangGraphy, Hugging Face, OpenAI SDKs).

• Familiarity with building or consuming APIs in a production environment.

• Exposure to cloud environments (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

• Interest in agent-based architectures and workflow automation.

• Understanding of observability concepts (logging, monitoring, or testing frameworks).

Education

• Currently enrolled undergraduate student in an accredited college/university, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Eligibility Requirements & Program Information

Candidates for this opportunity MUST meet all of the below requirements:

• Be enrolled in an accredited college/university pursuing a degree taking at least one class in the semester/quarter (spring/fall) prior to participation in the internship program AND returning to school the semester/quarter following the internship OR currently participating in a Disney College Program or Disney Internship.

• Current Disney Interns, College, International, or Culinary Program Participants:  You may only work for ONE consecutive year (12 months) in any combination of an internship and/or program.  

• Be at least 18 years of age

• Possess unrestricted work authorization

Additional Information  

• Fully available from M-F, 40 hours each week for the entire program duration: May/June - August/September 2026 (12 weeks)

• Able to provide own housing for the duration internship program

• Able to provide/have reliable transportation to/from work

The pay rate for this role in Glendale, CA is $42.00 per hour. Select benefits may be provided as part of the compensation package, such as medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered. To learn more about our benefits visit: https://jobs.disneycareers.com/benefits.