Principal Software Development Engineer in Test
About The Position
Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is a global organization focused on building and advancing the technological backbone for Disney’s media business. The team combines technology with creativity to develop world-class products, enhance storytelling, and drive innovation and scalability. This role is within the Product Engineering group, which is 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. The DEEP & Technology team is seeking a visionary Principal Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to lead quality engineering for streaming, data, and advertising systems. As a technical leader, you will define the strategic direction for automation, quality practices, and test architectures across the organization. You will collaborate cross-functionally to align quality strategy with company goals, drive innovation in automated testing, and ensure systems deliver reliable products to viewers. Your leadership will significantly impact revenue, user experience, and operational efficiency. The ideal candidate is proactive, influential, and passionate about transforming quality engineering with cutting-edge technology and thought leadership.
Requirements
- Minimum of 10 years experience in quality engineering, automation, or software development, with recent leadership responsibilities in large, complex engineering environments
- Passion around driving best practices in the testing space
- Knowledge of software engineering practices and agile approaches
- Strong desire for establishing and improving product quality
- Proven expertise architecting and scaling test automation for distributed, cloud-native systems
- Track record of influencing enterprise strategy and leading transformation initiatives
- Advanced proficiency with Python or modern OO languages; experience with ad-tech or large-scale systems is a plus
- Willingness to take challenges head on while being part of a team
- Strong communication, stakeholder management, and mentoring skills
- Bachelor's degree, preferably in Computer Science or related field (or equivalent work experience)
Nice To Haves
- experience with ad-tech or large-scale systems is a plus
Responsibilities
- Define and drive the vision, strategy, and roadmap for test automation and quality engineering across multiple business units and product lines.
- Influence organizational decisions regarding test architecture, process improvements, and adoption of modern testing paradigms (shift-left, CI/CD, observability, etc.).
- Establish and 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.
- Lead the architecture of scalable, resilient, and cloud-native test automation solutions that empower teams and improve defect prevention.
- Make high-impact technical decisions on frameworks, toolsets, and integrations to enable richer and more effective testing.
- Oversee technical reviews, mentorship, and hands-on guidance in complex areas such as distributed systems, data pipelines, and ad technologies.
- Partner with Platform Architects and DevOps to ensure seamless integration of quality gates and automated validation throughout deployment pipelines.
- Serve as a coaching resource to SDETs, engineers, and leadership, regularly conducting technical deep-dives, training, and knowledge-sharing sessions.
- Build consensus across product teams for standardization of test tools, frameworks, and reusable components.
- Facilitate root cause analysis for high-severity incidents, drive preventative and corrective actions, and communicate technical findings to senior leadership.
- Represent DEEP & Technology quality interests within company-wide engineering and business forums.
- 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 across programs.
- Ensure rigorous governance over traceability, compliance, and test reporting, supporting company-wide accountability.
- Continuously identify bottlenecks and drive organization-wide solutions to improve efficiency, coverage, and reliability.
- Champion research and adoption of emerging technologies (AI/ML in testing, autonomous testing, advanced observability, etc.) to keep test practices ahead of industry standards.
- Define and track advanced quality metrics (escape rates, flakiness, system reliability), implementing data-driven improvements.
- Lead efforts to mature organization’s quality posture in performance, security, and reliability engineering.
- Inspire a culture of innovation, experiment with new tools and practices, and help set the direction for the future of engineering quality.
Benefits
- 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.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
