Principal Software Development Engineer in Test

Principal Software Development Engineer in Test

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.

As a Principal Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) on the DEEP & Technology team, you will spearhead quality engineering across our streaming, data, and advertising systems. You will set the strategic direction for automation, quality practices, and test architectures organization‑wide and partner cross‑functionally to align the quality strategy with company objectives. Your decisions and leadership will impact revenue, user experience, and operational efficiency.

• Strategic Quality Leadership
  :
  Define and drive the vision, strategy, and roadmap for test automation and quality engineering across multiple business units and product lines. Influence decisions on test architecture, process improvements, and adoption of modern testing paradigms.
• Establish Entitlement‑wide Standards
  :
  Maintain enterprise‑wide standards for quality, automation, and operational excellence in collaboration with executive stakeholders. Own the end‑to‑end quality strategy for large‑scale, business‑critical projects, including test metrics, release criteria, and automation objectives.
• Architecture & Technical Authority
  :
  Lead the architecture of scalable, resilient, and cloud‑native test automation solutions. Make high‑impact technical decisions on frameworks, toolsets, and integrations to enable richer and more effective testing. Oversee technical reviews, mentorship, and guidance in complex areas such as distributed systems, data pipelines, and ad technologies.
• Cross‑Functional Influence & Mentorship
  :
  Serve as a coaching resource to SDETs, engineers, and leadership. Build consensus across product teams for standardization of test tools, frameworks, and reusable components. Facilitate root cause analysis for high‑severity incidents and communicate findings to senior leadership.
• Program Management & Delivery Excellence
  :
  Lead delivery of multiple concurrent, cross‑team testing initiatives in fast‑paced Agile environments. Manage test budgets, resource allocation, roadmap goals, and risk mitigation strategies. Ensure rigorous governance over traceability, compliance, and test reporting.
• Innovation & Continuous Improvement
  :
  Champion research and adoption of emerging technologies such as AI/ML in testing, autonomous testing, and advanced observability. Define and track advanced quality metrics and lead efforts to mature the organization’s quality posture in performance, security, and reliability engineering.

• Minimum of 10 years experience in quality engineering, automation, or software development with recent leadership responsibilities in large, complex engineering environments.
• Strong passion for driving best practices in the testing space and for establishing and improving product quality.
• Knowledge of software engineering practices and agile approaches.
• Proven expertise architecting and scaling test automation for distributed, cloud‑native systems.
• Advanced proficiency with Python or modern object‑oriented languages; experience with ad‑tech or large‑scale systems is a plus.
• Willingness to tackle challenges head on while being part of a team.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and mentoring skills.
• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent work experience.

The hiring range for this position in California is $171,600 - $230,100 per year and in New York is $179,700 - $241,000 per year. The base pay offered will consider internal equity and may vary based on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. 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 other benefits dependent on the level and position offered.