Lead Software Development Engineer in Test

Lead Software Development Engineer in Test

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Location Glendale, California, United States / Santa Monica, California, United States Business Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology Date posted Dec. 09, 2025

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, innovators, creators, builders, entertainers, and engineers, working with every part of The Walt Disney Company’s media portfolio to advance the technological foundation and consumer media touchpoints 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
  :
  Disney’s technology and products serve as a signature doorway for fans’ connections with the company’s brands and stories, including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, ABC, and many more.
• Innovation
  :
  We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and solve complex technical problems.

Product Engineering is a unified team responsible for the engineering of Disney Entertainment & ESPN digital and streaming products and platforms, including product engineering, media engineering, quality engineering, and the engineering behind personalization, commerce, lifecycle, and identity.

In this role, you will develop automation, processes, and infrastructure to ensure the quality of the backend APIs (or front‑end clients) and data systems that support the DEEPT Ecosystem. You will drive technical excellence and play a key part in integrating quality across our development lifecycle.

• Leads the design and implementation of scalable, fault‑tolerant, cloud‑native test architectures across multiple product teams.
• Defines quality engineering strategies aligned with business goals, ensuring alignment with architectural and operational excellence standards.
• Partners with architects, product owners, and engineering leadership to build and refine robust test frameworks and infrastructure.
• Champions the adoption of modern testing practices (shift‑left, CI/CD integration, observability, etc.) across the organization.

• Provides technical guidance and mentorship to SDETs and engineers across teams, reviewing architecture, test code, and frameworks.
• Ensures engineering best practices are consistently applied through code reviews, design sessions, and hands‑on pairing.
• Facilitates cross‑team collaboration to align on common tools, standards, and reusable testing components.
• Leads post‑mortem/root cause analysis for critical quality incidents and drives preventive action.

• Leads the planning and execution of multiple testing initiatives in Agile environments, ensuring timely and high‑quality deliverables.
• Owns the test strategy for large and complex projects, including defining test metrics, release criteria, and automation goals.
• Ensures governance for quality gates, compliance, and traceability across product teams.
• Identifies cross‑functional bottlenecks or risks and drives resolution proactively.

• Builds, enhances, and maintains scalable, reusable test automation frameworks and tools.
• Researches and introduces emerging tools and practices (AI in testing, autonomous testing, etc.) to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
• Tracks quality metrics (e.g., defect escape rate, automation coverage, flakiness) and continuously iterates on testing processes.
• Influences…