Software Engineer - AI Core Engineering

About

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 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.

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: More than ever, Disney’s technology and products serve as a signature doorway for fans' connections with the company’s brands and stories. Disney+. Hulu. ESPN. ABC. ABC News…and many more. These products and brands – and the unmatched stories, storytellers, and events they carry – matter to millions of people globally.
• Innovation: We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms, and solve complex and distinctive technical problems.

Ad Platforms is responsible for Disney’s industry‑leading ad technology and products – driving advertising performance, innovation, and value in Disney’s sports, news, and entertainment content, across all media platforms.

Job Summary

We are hiring a backend Software Engineer to join the AI Core team in Glendale or Seattle to build and advance foundational AI platform capabilities across Ad Platforms. In this role, you will contribute to the implementation of reusable AI application components, agent orchestration services, model integration layers, and shared backend services that serve multiple Ad Platform teams. You will work closely with senior engineers to deliver scalable, production‑ready AI systems and developer tooling.

This position is hands‑on and implementation focused, with responsibility for building reliable backend services, integrating AI models, and contributing to the ongoing evolution of AI Core platform capabilities.

Responsibilities

Backend Engineering and Platform Development

• Implement backend services supporting AI agent frameworks, orchestration layers, and shared AI platform capabilities.
• Develop APIs and backend components that integrate with LLM providers and internal AI Core services.
• Contribute to reusable AI agent capabilities, orchestration workflows, and model integration services.
• Ensure services meet standards for reliability, scalability, observability, and production readiness.
• Participate in code reviews and contribute to continuous improvement of platform quality.

AI Integration and Orchestration

• Work with structured agent orchestration frameworks such as LangGraph, LangChain, or similar systems to implement multi‑step AI workflows.
• Integrate LLM APIs and support evaluation and experimentation workflows through backend services.
• Assist in debugging and optimizing AI service performance and reliability.

Collaboration and Execution

• Collaborate with product, infrastructure, and security teams to implement AI features aligned with platform requirements.
• Participate in design discussions and provide input on implementation trade‑offs.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field (Master’s preferred), or equivalent experience.
• 3+ years of backend software engineering experience building scalable systems.
• Strong proficiency in Python with experience developing backend services and APIs.
• Experience integrating external APIs and working with distributed systems.
• Experience building or contributing to AI‑powered systems, developer tooling, or shared services in production environments.
• Familiarity with LLM APIs and agent orchestration frameworks such as LangGraph or similar tools.
• Understanding of CI/CD, automated testing, and modern engineering best practices.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and ability to work effectively in a collaborative team environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience integrating cloud services such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Exposure to observability, logging, and monitoring tools.

Compensation

• Los Angeles, CA: $117,500 – $157,500
• Seattle, WA: $123,000 – $165,000

The base pay offered will consider internal equity and 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.

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