Lead Data Engineer

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. 

Commerce, Data & Identity

• Commerce, Data & Identity provides the core product management functions for areas crucial to Disney’s media businesses. These include initiatives and products that power digital commerce, identity, and growth, as well as those that reach uniquely across The Walt Disney Company enterprise, such as messaging and privacy, among others. Additionally, it is responsible for the data engineering, science, and products for Disney Entertainment & ESPN, along with their interconnection with other parts of The Walt Disney Company. 

About The Role

The Lead Data Engineer partners with business, analytics, and infrastructure teams to design and build data pipelines for Content performance metrics. Responsibilities include sourcing internal and external data, designing table structures, defining ETL strategies, and implementing automated data quality checks. Additionally, this role mentors junior data engineers in pipeline development.

Responsibilities

• Lead the successful design and implementation of complex technical problems.

• Lead and contribute to the design and growth of our Data Products and Data Warehouses around Content movements and metrics.

• Use sophisticated analytical thought to exercise judgement and identify innovative solutions.

• Partner with technical and non-technical colleagues to understand data and reporting requirements, and Collaborate with Data Product Managers, Data Architects and other Data Engineers to design, implement, and deliver successful data solutions

• Design table structures and define ETL pipelines to build performant Data solutions that are reliable and scalable in a fast growing data ecosystem.

• Develop Data Quality checks

• Develop and maintain ETL routines using ETL and orchestration tools such as Airflow

• Serve as an advanced resource to other Data Engineers on the team, and mentor and coach more junior members of the team helping to improve their skills, knowledge, and productivity.

Basic Qualifications

• 7+ years of data engineering experience developing large data pipelines.

• Strong understanding of data modeling principles including Dimensional modeling, data normalization principles.

• Good understanding of SQL Engines and able to conduct advanced performance tuning.

• Ability to think strategically, analyze and interpret market and consumer information.

• Strong communication skills – written and verbal presentations.

• Excellent conceptual and analytical reasoning competencies.

• Comfortable working in a fast-paced and highly collaborative environment.

• Familiarity with Agile Scrum principles and ceremonies

Preferred Qualifications

• 4+ years of work experience implementing and reporting on business key performance indicators in data warehousing environments, required.

• 5+ years of experience using analytic SQL, working with traditional relational databases and/or distributed systems (Snowflake or Redshift), required.

• 3+ years of experience programming languages (e.g. Python, Pyspark), preferred.

• 3+ years of experience with data orchestration/ETL tools (Airflow, Nifi), preferred.

• Experience with Snowflake, Databricks/EMR/Spark & Airflow a plus.

Required Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related field, or equivalent work experience.

• Master’s Degree a plus.

Additional Information

#DISNEYTECH

The hiring range for this position in Santa Monica, CA is $152,200 - $204,100 per year, in San Francisco, CA is $166,800 - $223,600 per year, in Seattle, WA is $159,500 - $213,900 per year, and in New York, NY is $159,500 - $213,900 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.