Lead Software Engineer

Responsibilities

• As a Lead Software Engineer, you act as a skilled, experienced subject matter expert and lead, organizing development efforts across UI, services, and integrations to deliver intuitive, high-volume Guest and internal experiences for Disney Experiences brands. You solve complex problems, identify innovative solutions, and serve as a mentor and problem-solver who can explain difficult concepts, influence technical direction, and collaborate as a team player across technology and business partners. This role matters because it connects engineering excellence with Disney’s Guest-centric vision, requiring strong technical depth, communication, collaboration, and accountability to succeed.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and technical lead across the software stack, guiding architecture, design, and implementation for complex, large-scale systems and applications.
• Organize and lead development efforts, including analysis, programming, debugging, and modification of software improvements and new products used across Guest-facing and internal platforms.
• Mentor, train, and guide individual contributors by providing continuous coaching, feedback, and technical oversight, helping them connect their work to team goals and business outcomes.
• Break down organizational and product goals into clear strategies, expectations, and priorities, empowering team members to contribute their unique talents toward well-defined results.
• Lead end-to-end troubleshooting, problem analysis, and incident resolution for high-volume, 24/7 applications, ensuring reliability, performance, and a seamless Guest experience.
• Participate in and often lead agile rituals—such as scrums, sprint planning, capacity tracking, and demos—to align deliverables, manage dependencies, and drive continuous value delivery.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional partners and other technology teams to define system requirements, estimate and plan scalable projects, and negotiate solutions that balance technical and business needs.
• Own the design and development of backend services, APIs, and integrations, including security, data flow, and performance considerations for cloud-hosted, distributed systems.
• Stay current with emerging technologies and tools, making informed recommendations that foster creativity, innovation, and continuous improvement within the team.
• Create an environment where Disney values are experienced daily by encouraging collaboration, creative problem solving, accountability, and ensuring every voice is heard.

Required Qualifications

• Strong subject matter expertise in software engineering, with the ability to lead complex projects and act as a primary technical point of contact for teams and stakeholders.
• Proficiency in modern programming languages such as Java, Kotlin, Swift, JavaScript, Python, or similar, including experience with front-end and service development for high-volume applications.
• Experience designing and implementing RESTful APIs, microservices, and distributed systems, including security frameworks like OAuth and JWT and integration with cloud hosting environments.
• Familiarity with persistent storage technologies such as relational databases, document databases, caches, and database programming (e.g., SQL, PL/SQL, schema design).
• Comfort working in an agile environment, managing team rituals, coordinating releases, and delivering continuous value across large or sophisticated systems.
• Strong problem-solving, analysis, and communication skills, with the ability to explain difficult concepts, negotiate different points of view, and influence technical direction.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and coach engineers, hold self and others accountable to commitments, and collaborate effectively as a team-oriented, customer-focused leader.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or a comparable field of study, or equivalent work experience.
• Minimum 7 years of industry experience in software development or related work on large, scalable systems and high-scale environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience operating at scale in cloud environments (e.g., AWS, GCP), including observability, performance monitoring, and reliability for 24/7 web applications.
• Background with server-side rendering web frameworks (such as Astro or Angular SSR) to ensure performant, accessible, and SEO-optimized e…