Sr Technical Program Manager

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.  

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. 

The Business Operations team helps guide and articulate technology strategy and research, and is responsible for driving the day-to-day operation of the Product & Technology organization, including: project and portfolio management and tracking; organization-level capital, space, and resource management and allocation; process management; technical incident management; and our administrative and workplace experience support team. 

This Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM) role is part of the Business Operations organization. The Senior TPM will drive communication, optimize processes, and be a thought leader to ensure the Quality Engineering practice and Technology Enablement tools teams are delivering business impact.

Our Technical Program Managers (TPMs) work closely with engineering managers to drive transformative cross-organizational initiatives. With a strong aptitude for technical literacy and a passion for continuous learning, TPMs immerse themselves in their teams' product domains and the broader organizational landscape so they can understand best how to drive communication.

Ideal candidates thrive in ambiguity as they uncover pathways to success and autonomously manage multiple departmental assignments.  Our culture rewards individuals who can articulate complex topics into consumable yet data-driven narratives for executive leaders to make decisions with.

Responsibilities

• You will act as a strategic thought partner to engineering directors and technical leads, deeply understanding their technology domain to help craft and deliver messaging of progress, problems, and plans to executive leaders.

• You will monitor team progress against deliverables, proactively communicating status updates and collaborating with the team to identify solutions that ensure we stay on track, even when schedules slip.

• You will engage closely with your teams, understanding their agile processes, operational workflows, and engineering team culture to inspire change and innovation in pursuing excellence.

• You will apply your project management expertise to tailor agile best practices for feature-driven and operationally focused software development and QA teams, leveraging methodologies like Scrum, SAFe, Kanban, and other industry standards.

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of demonstrable experience managing multiple concurrent technical projects in a fast-paced and dynamic environment, developing and executing project plans and delivery commitments.

• Detail-oriented and excellent communication skills; ability to follow technical discussions and absorb technical documentation.

• Track record creating and growing trusting, lasting professional relationships with diverse stakeholders, maturing the team’s current engagements, and advocating for future work.

• Demonstrated tenacity and comfort with ambiguity

• Tools expertise including Airtable, Atlassian Suite, Google Suite, and Slack or similar

• Experience working with distributed teams and/or distributed organizations

• Working understanding of software development principles, practices, and architectures.

• Familiarity with microservices architecture in highly scalable cloud-based applications

• Experience leading production deployments and owning launch communications

• Bachelor's degree is required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of SQL, Python, Excel and other languages used for basic data analysis

• Degree in STEM and/or prior experience in a fast-paced technology-driven organization

The hiring range for this position in NY is $135,400 to $181,600 per year and in CA and CT is $129,300 to $173,300 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.