Principal Software Engineer

The Walt Disney Company • San Francisco, CA

22h • Hybrid

About The Position

Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is a global organization of engineers, product developers, designers, technologists, data scientists, and more, 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 and Innovators. Creators and Builders. Entertainers and Engineers. We work with every part of The Walt Disney Company’s media portfolio to advance the technological foundation and consumer media touch points serving millions of people around the world. This role falls within the Core Media Technology (CMT) team in DEEP&T’s Media Engineering organization. CMT is one of our Research and Advanced Development teams whose focus is in the domain of video and audio processing that drives innovative enhancements into our video processing platform for live and on-demand video streaming delivery. Our work involves optimizing media processing, introducing new media codecs, developing quality and performance assessment frameworks and conducting innovative media R&D towards future platform capabilities for the purposes of achieving velocity, scale, and efficiency through an optimized media platform as well as redefining storytelling through innovative media experiences.

Requirements

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in related field
• Deep expertise in video coding standards such as AV1, AV2, AVC, HEVC, VVC
• Strong algorithm background for both traditional block based and emerging neural network based video coding tools
• A strong background in applying deep learning techniques to video processing tasks such as video enhancement, video understanding, video coding and analysis.
• A proven track record of IP generation
• In-depth understanding and experience with multimedia stack (e.g. video formats, encoders/decoders, video playback/players), multimedia frameworks, and video coding/processing methods.
• A proven track record of success and demonstrable experience in research or advanced development in video coding / media processing or adjacent fields (video quality, computer vision, computer graphics)
• Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field with 10+ years of directly related industry experience in video codecs

Nice To Haves

• Knowledge and experience with C/C++ and Python
• Extensive experience in deploying and optimizing AI/ML models and frameworks, including state-of-the-art latent variable generative models and optimization for finite precision operations, is strongly preferred
• Applied knowledge of Media Metadata and Processing
• Applied knowledge of ABR algorithms and transport formats
• Knowledge of gStreamer Media Framework
• Experience with building web-apps/dashboards for data visualization
• Experience with working with Dockers
• Web service development, REST APIs, XML/JSON
• Release management, CD/CI tools , Git/GitHub
• High load, highly scalable and distributed applications

Responsibilities

• Research and development for future generation image and video coding especially through the application of ML/AI methods.
• Participate and represent Disney at AOM and connect with academic research groups, conferences and other standard bodies such as MPEG, IETF, and VQEG.
• Conduct innovative research and advanced development involving advanced computer vision algorithms and applied ML/AI techniques to address tasks such as media enhancement, understanding, analysis, compression, and enhancing storytelling through innovative media experiences.
• Conduct multidisciplinary research and implementation in video technologies, including video processing, encoding and E2E video streaming for both live and on-demand use cases.
• Design video algorithms and software workflows for the purposes of achieving velocity, scale, and efficiency to further optimize our media platform.
• Be a thought leader and technical domain expert both within and beyond the organization.
• Drive architectural innovation and significant IP generation both internally and at the standards level.
• Directly influence our strategy and represent the organization in technical discussions.
• Shape our long-term strategy and product development with contributions critical to initiatives and innovation.
• Regularly work with senior leaders to drive major technical advancements.
• Coordinate and collaborate with global CMT team resources.

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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal