Job Details

Lead Machine Learning Engineer, Ad Platforms

Location: Seattle, Washington, United States / Santa Monica, California, United States / San Francisco, California, United States

Business: Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology

Date posted: Sep. 10, 2025

Job Summary: Technology is at the heart of Disney's past, present, and future. 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.

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. The Ad Platform research team is under Ad Platforms and its mission is to transform advertising and Disney's Ad platform with AI and data science. We build solutions to measure and optimize every aspect of the advertising life cycle. Our team is seeking a Lead Machine Learning Engineer who will be an outstanding addition and leading development for prediction or optimization engines for addressable ad platforms.

The right person for this role should be experienced in crafting implementation for either machine learning technologies or data-driven algorithms. If you are someone who is proactive and innovative in these domains, this is a phenomenal role for you!

Responsibilities

• Drive ground-breaking innovation and apply state of the art AI and machine learning in a variety of areas to enhance every aspect of advertising, including inventory forecasting, ad experience, ad pacing, pricing, targeting, and efficient ad delivery.
• Invent and iterate novel solutions for complex ad challenges with fast turnaround.
• Lead the ad algorithm architecture design and iteration of the advertising system.
• Develop scalable and efficient approaches for large scale data analysis and model development.
• Build and experiment new algorithms and models end-to-end, from production rollout to continuous optimization.
• Collaborate with engineering teams, product managers, and program managers in an open and creative environment.
• Mentor team members and support their technical growth.

Basic Qualifications

• 7+ years of relevant engineering experience working at enterprise level technology companies.
• Strong knowledge of and experience implementing AI/ML technologies, mathematics, and statistics.
• Proficient in Java, Python, Scala, large scale ML/DL platforms and processing tech stack.
• Ability to collaborate with and lead projects across cross-functional teams such as Product Management, Architecture, and other Engineering teams
• Passionate about understanding the ad business, applying advanced research to relevant business scenarios, and seeking innovation opportunities to enhance business effectiveness.
• Passionate about technology, open to interdisciplinary collaborations, and experienced in building data-driven services and applications.
• A proven track record of thriving in a fast-paced, data-driven, and collaborative work environment is required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in large scale machine learning
• Experience in LLM and GenAI
• Experience with forecasting algorithms
• Experience with CTR/CVR model, generative AI, forecasting model
• Experience with feature store, audience segmentation and MLOps
• Experience with Tensorflow, Kubeflow or Sagemaker
• Experience in the advertising, digital video advertising, or digital marketing domain

Education

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Systems or related equivalent experience.
• Master's degree in computer science, Information Systems or related equivalent experience.

#DISNEYTECH

The hiring range for this position in WA is $175,800.00 to $235,700.00 per year and in CA is $167,700.00 to $246,400.00 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.

About Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology

We blend imagination and innovation to reimagine the ways people experience and engage with the world's most beloved stories and products. Our work is wide-ranging and deeply sophisticated. We create amazing experiences, transform the future of media, and build products and platforms that enable the connection between people everywhere and the stories and sports they love.

Disney's ability to marry world-class technology with creativity makes us unique. It is at the heart of our past, present, and future. We are Storytellers and Innovators. Creators and Builders. Entertainers and Engineers.

About The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise that includes Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Experiences. This position is with Disney Streaming Technology LLC, part of Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology. Disney Streaming Technology LLC is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, military or veteran status, medical condition, genetic information or disability, or any other basis prohibited by law. Disney champions a business environment where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a constantly evolving world.

Disability Accommodation For Employment Applications: The Walt Disney Company and its Affiliated Companies are Equal Employment Opportunity employers. If you need a reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening or apply for a position, email ...@Disney.com with your request. This email is not for general inquiries. We will only respond to requests related to accessibility of the online application system due to a disability.

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