Lead Product Software Engineer (Kotlin)

Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology

On any given day at Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology, we’re reimagining ways to create magical viewing 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.

A few reasons why we think you’d love working for Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology

• Building the future of Disney’s media business: DE&E Technologists are designing and building the infrastructure that will power Disney’s media, advertising, and distribution businesses for years to come.

• Reach & Scale: The products and platforms this group builds and operates delight millions of consumers every minute of every day – from Disney+ and Hulu, to ABC News and Entertainment, to ESPN and ESPN+, and much more.

• Innovation: We develop and execute groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and enhance how audiences experience sports, entertainment & news.

The Product & Data Engineering team is responsible for end-to-end development for Disney’s world-class consumer-facing products, including streaming platforms Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, and digital products & experiences across ESPN, Marvel, Disney Studios, NatGeo, and ABC News. The team drives innovation at scale for millions of consumers around the world across Apple, Android, Smart TVs, game consoles, and the web, with our platforms powering core experiences like personalization, search, messaging and data.

Job Summary:

The Android Browse team, responsible for building the experiences that help guide our users to their favorite content on Hulu and Disney+, is seeking an experienced Software Engineer with a passion for mobile applications to join our team. Our highly collaborative team brings together folks from many fields, including quality assurance, program management, product management, UX, and engineering. We are responsible for the apps that millions of subscribers use to watch their favorite movies and shows every single day. We strive to build and maintain the best Live and Video on Demand (VOD) applications on a broad set of Android devices including phones, tablets and TVs, from Android 7 to the latest developer preview. We would love to see samples of your work. If you’ve got something to share with us, please make sure your resume or application links to your GitHub account or an app in the Play Store.

On the Android team, we are accountable to one another, committed to aligning on common goals and moving forward. We do so because we know that no one person or team alone could achieve what we've set out to do! As a team, we continuously analyze data to improve our Apps, our processes, and how we work together.

Why you'd want to work with us:

• Nurture a highly collaborative, world-class team of software engineers.

• Work on a cutting-edge and evolving technology stack.

• Own substantial features shipped to millions of users.

• Influence the innovation of high-profile products in the media streaming landscape.

• Join an inclusive culture that incorporates diverse perspectives and supports individual needs.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Work closely with UX designers, product managers, and engineering leadership to craft best-of-class, delightful TV-watching experiences

• Work closely with other client and backend engineers, to architect and implement solutions that are built to last.

• Demonstrate engineering excellence by developing test infrastructures, writing documentation, and following an agile development methodology.

• Assist with critical components including our release process and remote configuration management.

• Manage production issues and solve novel problems.

• Mentor associate and mid-level team members and support peers through code review and pair programming.

• Identify areas for growth within the team processes and develop new systems for collaboration.

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of 7+ years of experience with Kotlin and Android development

• A deep understanding of the Android SDK, Activity and Fragment lifecycles, thread management, custom views, compose and animations

• Deep ​knowledge​ ​of Android app architecture patterns (MVVM, MVI, etc.) and design principles.

• Experience​ ​integrating​ ​with​ ​backend​ ​systems​, ​web​ ​services, and third-party software

• Proven understanding and experience using reactive frameworks such as RxJava or Flow

• Be an excellent communicator who collaborates well across teams.

• Successfully lead a project from start to finish

• You build high-quality code by always writing tests and using performance evaluation tools like Android Profiler

• Experience with test automation, dependency injection frameworks, and continuous integration

• Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools (e.g. Claude, Cursor, GitHub Copilot), to improve software design, engineering productivity and system capabilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiar with Scrum and Agile methodologies

• Experience building UI with Compose

• A growth mindset towards learning, experience mentoring others, and a desire to give and receive feedback.

• Familiarity with Android TV / Amazon Fire TV development

• Experience with streaming video (DASH or HLS protocol), codecs, and DRM

Required Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience.

The hiring range for this position in Seattle s $163,100 to $218,700 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.