Principal Product Designer, CDI Design

About the Team

On any given day at Disney Entertainment & ESPN Product & Technology (DEEP&T), we’re reimagining ways to create magical 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.

The Disney Entertainment & ESPN (DE&E) Technology Design team thinks beyond what is possible today. They discover, disrupt, and chart a course to where our fans and consumers will be next. Design brings the Disney magic to life by building digital customer experiences via the entire portfolio of both consumer-facing products and internal products and tooling. This includes Sports, Entertainment, News, Streaming and Enterprise Products and Experiences.

A few reasons why we believe you’d love working here:

• Impact – We are shaping the future of Disney Entertainment. Our design and research drive innovation across our entire portfolio, from Disney+ to ESPN and beyond, creating magical experiences for audiences worldwide.

• Collaboration – Our team includes the industry's most talented designers, UX engineers, design operations experts, and leaders, all working together to push the boundaries of creativity and user experience.

• Innovation – We pioneer groundbreaking products and techniques that redefine industry standards, transforming how audiences engage with sports, entertainment, and news.

About the Role

We are looking for a Principal Product Designer to join our Product Design team at DEEP&T. In this pivotal role, you will lead the creation of thoughtful, innovative, and user-centered design solutions for products used by millions of Disney customers each year. You will drive the end-to-end design process—from discovery and ideation to prototyping and delivery—crafting intuitive, delightful experiences across a range of platforms and touchpoints.

As a seasoned design leader, you’ll play a key role in influencing the strategic direction of the company through exceptional design expertise and organizational impact. You’ll collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, leveraging user research insights and methods like design sprints, journey mapping, and usability testing to inform and validate your designs. In addition

to your design contributions, you will help define and scale design systems, set industry standards, and elevate the overall design culture across the organization.

Your leadership will shape both the products we build and the broader design organization, driving innovation and ensuring that design continues to play a central role in the company’s long-term success.

Design Leadership and Fundamentals:

• Drive organizational progress as a trusted influencer among Design, Product, and Tech leadership.

• Set industry standards in interface design, constantly raising the bar and contributing to tools and techniques.

Design Strategy Expertise:

• Demonstrate expertise in guiding projects on design and product strategy.

• Drive competitive analysis, problem definition, and articulation of the product vision.

Delivery Leadership:

• Lead a large domain, fostering meaningful relationships across functions and codifying best practices.

• Orchestrate shipping strategy for complex projects, ensuring efficiency in design workflows.

Interaction Design Mastery:

• Inspire and elevate designers in interaction design and prototype use.

• Contribute to design systems with technical, business, and interaction design leadership.

Presentation and Advocacy:

• Expertly present to large audiences, focusing on platform design, cross-brand systems thinking, and brand expression.

• Advocate for design as a discipline and represent "capital D" Design as a strategic function.

Research and Strategy Impact:

• Utilize qualitative and quantitative research to affect company strategy.

• Guide landscape analysis, hypothesis development, and user testing, fostering a culture of inquiry.

Team Culture and Inclusivity:

• Build and document value-driven behaviors, promoting a healthy, value-driven culture.

• Collaborate inclusively, stewarding complex collaborative events and fostering cross-functional culture initiatives.

Communication Clarity:

• Deliver clarity in complex project descriptions, design critiques, and documentation.​

• Keep teams informed, seek feedback, deliver bad news with empathy, and mentor communicators for effective communication.

Advocacy and Vision Definition:

• Advocate for the betterment of design practice and represent Design as a strategic function.

• Play a central role in defining and communicating the vision for the entire product experience.

Required Qualifications & Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Design, HCI, or experience in a related field.

• 10+ years of focused practice in product design or a related field.

• Proven experience as a design leader with a track record of driving organizational progress.

• Expertise in design fundamentals, content strategy, and interaction design.

• Strong leadership skills with a focus on delivery, collaboration, and inclusivity.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to advocate for design at various levels.

• Mastery in research, strategy impact, and fostering a culture of inquiry.

• Visionary thinking with the ability to define and communicate a cohesive vision for the product experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proven experience in a senior design leadership role, influencing product strategy and driving organizational impact.

• Additional Information

• This role is based out of New York, NY or Los Angeles, CA

The hiring range for this position in New York, New York is $175,800 - $235,700 and in Santa Monica, California is $167,700 - $224,900 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.