Senior Technical Program Manager

Job Summary:

Disney Entertainment & ESPN Product & Technology

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.

Job Summary:

This is a contractor position within the DE&E Technology: Business Operations - Global Program Management organization, supporting our Ad Platforms technology group. The Scrum Lead is responsible for driving technical deliverables in the Advertising Platforms area from initiation through closure. This involves daily hands-on management of technology activities utilizing Agile and Scrum based software development practices; and includes working cross-functionally with multiple technical teams to effectively deliver business solutions. This role requires a wide range of leadership competencies, technical (project management) experience, and communications skills. The Scrum Lead is responsible for driving delivery using DEE Technology processes, tools and frameworks; this includes the development of the scope of work and the management of time, work-breakdown, cost, risk, and communications.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Accountable for driving execution and delivery of a set of software development deliverables from start to finish.

• Leverage experience with Agile and Scrum to lead teams to successful delivery.

• Lead delivery teams through the identification and management of risks and the resolution of issues, and escalating to management as appropriate.

• Facilitator – must be able to:

  • Facilitate team ceremonies

  • Facilitate meetings/workshops with groups of people beyond the immediate delivery team

  • Facilitate the team through the resolution of complex issues

  • Drive workshop/meeting to conclusion and/or actionable outcome

  • Ensure group participation

• Develop and deliver outcomes/results/notes in a manor appropriate to the level of the group

• Responsible for managing team dynamics, morale and motivation while building a culture where all members and points of view are respected

• Accountable for delivering ‘quality’ solutions that provide desired business benefits and/or solve business problems - ‘on-time’ & within budget.

• Monitor and report on team metrics around delivery

• Able to quickly solve complex problems in a challenging, dynamic environment with minimal direction.

• Provide frequent and transparent communication to the business and technical senior management, delivery teams and stakeholders regarding initiative health, issues, and risks.

• Effectively communicates complex and/or difficult information to both technical and non-technical audiences, including Executives.

• Interacts with internal and external peers, initiative stakeholders, and managers to exchange complex information.

• Ability to influence key decision-makers / stakeholders towards new business processes and technical solutions that best serve DEE Technology & the Walt Disney company.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

• 5+ years as a Scrum Lead, with hands-on experience with Agile/Scrum developing software applications in a highly-technical domain

• 5+ years of experience managing formal application software development projects

• Strong expertise in Agile and its frameworks (Scrum, Kanban) and Scaled-Agile management methods and processes

• Extensive knowledge and experience with the software development lifecycle

• Expertise with project management tools used in business/project area

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a media technology environment

• Ad tech domain knowledge, or demonstrated aptitude for learning a technology-based engineering domain

• Project management certifications

The hiring range for this position in California $141,600 - $189,800. 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.