Principal Software Engineer - Android

Company: The Walt Disney Company
Location: San Francisco
Posted on: April 2, 2026

Job Description:

Job Posting Title: Principal Software Engineer - Android Req ID: 10135020 Job Description: 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. Product Engineering is a unified team responsible for the engineering of Disney Entertainment & ESPN digital and streaming products and platforms. This includes product engineering, media engineering, quality assurance, engineering behind personalization, commerce, lifecycle, and identity. Job Summary: Disney's Android team is seeking an experienced Principal Software Engineer who is excited to build apps enjoyed by millions around the world. You will be building scalable, elegant solutions for the Android applications on Disney and Star across a wide array of devices including phones, tablets, and TVs. Our highly collaborative group works in tandem with many cross-functional teams. We value pristine communication skills, both written and verbal, as well as a bias for action. We are incredibly invested in maintaining high code quality standards with unit tests, automated tests, modern libraries, and a Kotlin codebase. We strive to build the best Live and video-on-demand (VOD) applications in the world, and we look forward to hearing more about your skills and how they can help us achieve this lofty goal. Responsibilities: As a Principal Software Engineer on the Disney Android team, you will serve as a technical cornerstone, driving the architecture and innovation of an application enjoyed by millions of users. You will be accountable for the application's long-term health, scalability, and technical excellence across the vast Android ecosystem. Architectural Vision & Technical Roadmap: Define and drive the long-term architectural vision and technical roadmap for the Disney Android applications across phones, tablets, and TV devices. Cross-functional partnership: Collaborate with product, UX/UI, and others to influence product strategy. Full-Stack Application Impact: Demonstrate versatile expertise by designing and implementing solutions across all feature areas of the application, from user onboarding and content discovery to core video playback. Platform Expertise: Serve as a subject matter expert for the Android platform, guiding the team in preparing for new OS versions and navigating the diverse ecosystem of phone, tablet, Android TV, and Amazon Fire TV devices. Development of core components to be utilized across the Disney Android application. Basic Qualifications: Minimum of 10 years of relevant Android experience Demonstrated ability to own and lead large, complex, and/or highly innovative development projects from start to finish. Deep and broad technical knowledge reaching subject matter expertise in several key areas of software engineering, including architectural patterns (MVI/MVVM or equivalent). Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex ideas, anticipate objections, and persuade others, often at senior levels, to adopt a different point of view. Ability to not only write phenomenal code and tests, but also to own system architecture documentation and review the code and solution designs of multiple teams, providing valuable feedback. Experience proactively mentoring and assisting in the growth of senior and lead software developers and their peers across teams Preferred Qualifications: Experience refactoring large and complex codebases Familiarity with Android TV / Amazon Fire TV development Experience with streaming video, codecs, and DRM Knowledgeable about maintaining a large modularized codebase Experience using performance evaluation tools such as Android Profiler Experience with: ? Kotlin, Java, Android SDK, Dependency Injection, Gradle, Databases, Reactive paradigms, coroutines. Education: Bachelor’s degree or better in Computer Science or a related technical field or equivalent job experience. The hiring range for this position in San Francisco, CA is $206,400 - $276,700 and in New York City, NY is $197,400 - $264,700. 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. Job Posting Segment: Product Engineering Job Posting Primary Business: PE - Streaming Frontend Primary Job Posting Category: Software Engineer Employment Type: Full time Primary City, State, Region, Postal Code: San Francisco, CA, USA Alternate City, State, Region, Postal Code: USA - NY - 7 Hudson Square Date Posted: 2025-10-30

Keywords: The Walt Disney Company, Livermore , Principal Software Engineer - Android, IT / Software / Systems , San Francisco, California