Principal Front-end Engineer (Front-end / UI/ Full Stack)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Principal Front-end Engineer (Front-end / UI/ Full Stack) Company: The Walt Disney Company Location: Glendale, CA, USA; Santa Monica, CA, USA; Seattle, WA, USA Job Type: FULL_TIME Category: Software Engineering / Ad Platforms Date Posted: 2026-02-10 Experience Level: 10+ years

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive innovation and technical excellence in the development of cutting-edge ad technology platforms for Disney's media portfolio.
• Design, implement, and maintain scalable, high-throughput, low-latency microservices for ad serving and interactive ad experiences.
• Collaborate with product teams to translate complex requirements into robust, performant, and maintainable software solutions.
• Mentor and guide fellow engineers, fostering a culture of best practices, continuous learning, and pragmatic optimism within the Ad Experiences Fleet.
• Enhance systems' observability through comprehensive metrics, monitoring, and alerting to ensure system health and reliability.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a Principal Engineer, indicating a senior leadership and high-impact contributor role within the Ad Platforms segment. The emphasis on "Front-end / UI/ Full Stack" suggests a need for broad technical expertise, capable of bridging front-end user experience with back-end services and infrastructure. The role demands not only strong technical skills but also leadership in mentoring, design, and advocating for best practices in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Write and extensively review production-level code and associated test implementations, ensuring adherence to best practices and optimal algorithmic complexity.
• Participate in an on-call rotation to provide critical support for production systems, ensuring high availability and rapid issue resolution.
• Collaborate with Product Managers to assess technical feasibility, translate requirements into actionable implementation tasks, and guide teams through the execution phase.
• Research, prototype, and implement innovative solutions to enhance Ad Serving systems, focusing on cost reduction, improved maintainability, and minimized feature lead times.
• Define, review, and meticulously document software and system designs within a high-throughput, low-latency microservices architecture.
• Implement and enhance system observability by integrating appropriate metrics, monitors, and alerts to provide deep insights into system performance and health.
• Mentor and inspire junior and senior engineers in all facets of professional software development, including design patterns, coding standards, and system architecture.
• Contribute to the strategic technical direction of the Ad Experiences Fleet, identifying potential optimizations and enhancements through dedicated research time.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a hands-on engineering role with significant architectural and leadership components. The emphasis on "writing and reviewing a lot of code and tests" and "supporting engineers on an On-Call shift" points to a senior individual contributor expectation, while "mentoring and inspiring others" and "defining, reviewing, and documenting software and system designs" underscore the leadership and strategic influence expected of a Principal Engineer.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical work experience.

Experience:

• 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience, with a strong track record of delivering complex systems.

Required Skills:

• Advanced proficiency in Java, including a deep understanding of heap management, multi-threading, garbage collection, and performance profiling.
• Advanced proficiency in front-end technologies including Node.js, React, NextJS, Express, Typescript, and Tailwind CSS.
• Demonstrated analytical, problem-solving, and system design skills within a highly distributed and highly available services ecosystem.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and teamwork skills, with the ability to effectively engage with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience with SpringBoot and related Spring projects for building robust backend services.
• Experience with non-relational database technologies, such as DynamoDB.
• Experience with in-memory data stores like Redis and/or MemCache.
• Experience with message queueing systems such as Apache Kafka and/or Kinesis.
• Experience with cloud platforms, specifically AWS (Amazon Web Services) or equivalent.
• Experience with observability tooling (e.g., logs, metrics, tracing).

Preferred Skills:

• Comprehensive experience with infrastructure-as-code and containerization technologies like Terraform, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Knowledge of the Ad Tech Industry and its associated challenges and opportunities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The extensive list of required technical skills, spanning both back-end (Java, SpringBoot, databases, messaging) and front-end (Node, React, NextJS, Typescript), along with cloud and observability tools, clearly defines the "Full Stack" aspect of this Principal Engineer role. The preference for Ad Tech industry knowledge and containerization/orchestration tools (Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes) indicates a desire for candidates who can immediately contribute to the specific domain and modern deployment practices.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase of past projects demonstrating expertise in building and scaling distributed systems, particularly in a high-throughput, low-latency environment.
• Examples of how you've influenced technical direction, mentored teams, and driven adoption of best practices in code quality, testing, and system design.
• Case studies illustrating your involvement in optimizing system performance, reducing operational costs, and improving maintainability of complex software solutions.
• Demonstrations of your ability to translate product requirements into well-defined technical specifications and implementation plans.

Process Documentation:

• Evidence of contributions to architectural design documents, system specifications, and technical roadmaps.
• Examples of implemented observability strategies, including dashboards, alerts, and logging frameworks used to monitor system health.
• Documentation of processes you've helped establish for code reviews, testing methodologies, and deployment pipelines.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Principal Engineer role, a portfolio is crucial. It needs to go beyond just listing projects and demonstrate leadership, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of engineering processes. Candidates should be prepared to articulate their role in the design, implementation, and maintenance of complex systems, emphasizing their impact on scalability, performance, and cost-efficiency.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• Glendale, CA & Santa Monica, CA: $184,300 - $247,100 USD per year
• Seattle, WA: $193,100 - $258,900 USD per year

Benefits:

• Comprehensive medical insurance plans.
• Financial benefits, which may include retirement savings plans or other investment opportunities.
• Long-term incentive units (potential stock options or similar equity).
• Other benefits dependent on the level and position offered.

Working Hours:

• This is a full-time position. While specific daily hours are not detailed, the role's responsibilities, including on-call duties and the dynamic environment, suggest a need for flexibility and dedication, typically aligning with standard business hours with potential for extended work as needed.

📝 Enhancement Note: The provided salary ranges are specific to location and reflect the senior level of the Principal Engineer role. The inclusion of "long-term incentive units" suggests potential for equity compensation, which is common for senior technical positions. The mention of "internal equity" and "geographic region" indicates that the final offer will be carefully calibrated.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Entertainment & Technology, Media & Advertising. The Walt Disney Company is a global leader in creating, distributing, and broadcasting entertainment and news content. Company Size: Over 100,000 employees globally. This large scale implies robust infrastructure, established processes, and opportunities for impact across a vast organization. Founded: 1923. A long-standing history signifies stability, deep-rooted values, and a continuous evolution of its technological capabilities.

Team Structure:

• The role sits within the Ad Platforms organization, specifically the Ad Experiences Fleet. This team focuses on developing and enhancing Disney's advertising technology and products.
• The "Fleet" structure suggests agile, cross-functional teams focused on specific product areas or technological domains.
• Reporting likely involves a direct manager within the engineering hierarchy, with significant collaboration expected across Product Management, other engineering teams, and potentially business stakeholders.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Innovation: Emphasis on leveraging data to inform product development, optimize ad performance, and enhance viewer experience.
• Agile Development: Implied by the "Fleet" structure and the need for rapid prototyping, testing, and validation of new ad formats and creative tools.
• Performance & Scalability Focus: Critical for serving millions of users globally and handling high volumes of ad requests with low latency.
• Collaboration & Communication: A core requirement, reflecting the need to work across diverse teams and disciplines to achieve strategic goals.

Company Website: https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Disney's culture is a blend of creative innovation and technological advancement. For engineers, this means working on products that have massive cultural impact while employing sophisticated technical solutions. The Ad Platforms segment is crucial for revenue generation and requires a blend of technical rigor, business acumen, and an understanding of user experience.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Principal Software Engineer. This is a senior individual contributor role, typically the highest individual contributor level before moving into management or distinguished engineer tracks. It signifies deep technical expertise, leadership in design and architecture, and significant influence on team strategy and technical direction.

Reporting Structure: Reports to an engineering manager or director within the Ad Platforms organization. Works closely with Product Managers, Architects, and other Principal Engineers.

Operations Impact: Directly impacts Disney's advertising revenue streams by developing and optimizing ad serving systems, creative tools, and interactive ad experiences across CTV platforms. Contributes to enhancing the viewer experience and advertiser value, driving innovation and scalability for the media business.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Leadership: Opportunity to become a subject matter expert within Ad Tech, influence architectural decisions, and lead major technical initiatives.
• Cross-functional Exposure: Work with various product lines (ESPN, Disney+, Hulu, ABC) and technology stacks, broadening expertise.
• Mentorship & Development: Formal and informal opportunities to mentor engineers, develop leadership skills, and potentially transition into management or principal architect roles.
• Industry Recognition: Contribution to innovative ad tech solutions can lead to industry recognition and thought leadership opportunities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The Principal Engineer title suggests a clear path for technical mastery and influence. Growth opportunities likely involve deepening expertise in ad technology, expanding scope to broader platform initiatives, or moving into leadership roles that manage teams and strategic roadmaps.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work model, with an expectation to be in the office four days a week. This indicates a collaborative, in-person work environment balanced with flexibility. Office Location(s): Santa Monica, CA, USA; Seattle, WA, USA. These are major tech hubs, offering access to talent and a vibrant ecosystem.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative: The hybrid model encourages in-person collaboration, team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and knowledge sharing.
• Technology-Rich: Access to modern development tools, cloud infrastructure, and potentially state-of-the-art hardware for development and testing.
• Cross-functional Interaction: Frequent engagement with product managers, designers, and other engineering teams, fostering a dynamic and communicative atmosphere.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time work schedule, likely with flexibility. The on-call requirement necessitates availability outside of standard hours when scheduled, reinforcing the need for robust time management and dedication.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid work environment at major tech hubs like Santa Monica and Seattle implies a professional setting with a focus on team synergy and efficient project execution. The balance between in-office and remote work is designed to foster both collaboration and individual productivity.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: HR or Recruiter call to assess basic qualifications, cultural fit, and alignment with the role.
• Technical Screening: Likely a coding challenge or a deep-dive technical interview focused on core programming skills (Java, front-end technologies), system design, and problem-solving.
• On-site/Virtual Interviews: A series of interviews (typically 3-5) with engineering managers, senior engineers, and potentially product managers. These will cover:
  • System Design: Designing scalable, distributed systems for ad serving, real-time bidding, or content delivery.
  • Coding: Live coding exercises or take-home assignments focusing on algorithms, data structures, and idiomatic use of required languages/frameworks.
  • Behavioral/Situational: Questions assessing leadership, mentorship, conflict resolution, collaboration, and problem-solving approach in complex scenarios.
  • Domain Knowledge: Discussions about Ad Tech, CTV, and relevant industry trends.
• Final Round: Potentially a discussion with senior leadership or a panel interview to finalize the decision.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the problem you solved, your specific contributions, the technologies used, and the measurable outcomes (e.g., performance improvements, cost savings, increased user engagement, revenue impact).
• Showcase Leadership: Include examples of how you've mentored engineers, influenced architectural decisions, or led technical initiatives.
• Detail System Design: For complex projects, provide high-level architectural diagrams and explain your design choices, trade-offs, and scalability considerations.
• Quantify Achievements: Use numbers and metrics wherever possible to demonstrate the scale and impact of your work.
• Tailor to Role: Emphasize experience relevant to Ad Tech, distributed systems, front-end/full-stack development, and cloud platforms.

Challenge Preparation:

• System Design: Practice designing systems like ad servers, content delivery networks, real-time data pipelines, or user profile management systems. Focus on scalability, fault tolerance, latency, and cost-efficiency.
• Coding: Refresh your knowledge of common data structures and algorithms. Practice coding in Java and JavaScript/TypeScript, focusing on clean, efficient, and well-tested code.
• Behavioral: Prepare STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) responses for common leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving questions.
• Ad Tech Fundamentals: Familiarize yourself with core concepts in programmatic advertising, ad serving, audience segmentation, and CTV advertising.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process for a Principal Engineer at a company like Disney is rigorous. Candidates must be prepared to demonstrate not only deep technical expertise but also strong leadership, problem-solving, and communication skills. A well-prepared portfolio that highlights impact and leadership is essential.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Backend: Java, SpringBoot, Node.js (Express)
• Frontend: React, NextJS, Typescript, Tailwind CSS
• Databases: DynamoDB (NoSQL), potentially relational databases for specific use cases.
• Caching: Redis, MemCache
• Messaging/Streaming: Apache Kafka, Kinesis
• Cloud Platform: AWS (EC2, S3, Lambda, RDS, EKS, etc.)
• Containerization & Orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes
• Infrastructure as Code: Terraform

Analytics & Reporting:

• Observability Tools: Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), Datadog, or similar for logs, metrics, and tracing.
• Data Warehousing/Analytics: Potentially Snowflake, Redshift, or internal data platforms for analyzing ad performance and user behavior.
• Dashboarding: Tools for creating real-time dashboards to monitor system health and business KPIs.

CRM & Automation:

• While not explicitly listed, understanding of CRM principles and marketing automation concepts may be beneficial given the Ad Platforms focus. Integration tools and APIs will be crucial for connecting various services.

📝 Enhancement Note: This is a modern, cloud-native technology stack commonly found in large-scale, high-performance environments. Proficiency with AWS, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and a robust observability stack is critical for success. The combination of Java and Node.js/React indicates a need for full-stack capabilities.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation: A drive to create novel ad experiences and leverage cutting-edge technology.
• Collaboration: Strong emphasis on working together across teams and disciplines to achieve common goals.
• Excellence: Commitment to high-quality code, robust systems, and exceptional user experiences.
• Impact: Focus on delivering tangible results that contribute to Disney's business objectives, particularly revenue growth and viewer engagement.
• Pragmatic Optimism: A positive, can-do attitude coupled with a practical approach to problem-solving.
• Kindness: Fostering a supportive and respectful work environment.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Close partnership with Product Management, Design, and other engineering teams to deliver end-to-end solutions.
• Knowledge Sharing: Encouragement of open communication, code reviews, and documentation to propagate best practices and technical insights.
• Feedback Loops: Active solicitation and provision of constructive feedback to drive continuous improvement in both products and processes.
• Agile and Iterative: A willingness to adapt to changing requirements and iterate on solutions based on testing and feedback.

📝 Enhancement Note: Disney's culture emphasizes storytelling and innovation. For the Ad Platforms team, this translates to building technologies that enhance the user experience while driving business value. The values highlight a blend of technical rigor, collaborative spirit, and a positive, forward-thinking approach.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scale and Performance: Maintaining high throughput and low latency for ad serving systems that handle millions of requests globally.
• Ad Tech Complexity: Navigating the intricate landscape of ad technology, including privacy regulations, data management, and evolving industry standards.
• Cross-Platform Consistency: Ensuring seamless and engaging ad experiences across diverse CTV platforms and devices.
• Rapid Innovation Cycles: Keeping pace with the fast-evolving digital advertising space and developing new ad formats and technologies quickly.
• Legacy System Integration: Potentially integrating new systems with existing Disney infrastructure.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Ad Tech Specialization: Deepen expertise in the advertising technology domain, becoming a recognized expert.
• Advanced Cloud & Distributed Systems: Further develop skills in cloud-native architectures, microservices, and large-scale distributed systems.
• Leadership Development: Opportunities to lead technical projects, mentor junior engineers, and develop management or distinguished engineering career paths.
• Industry Conferences & Training: Access to relevant conferences, workshops, and training programs to stay abreast of industry trends and technologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to working at the intersection of media, technology, and advertising at scale. Growth opportunities are geared towards technical mastery, leadership, and staying at the forefront of industry innovation.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• System Design: Be prepared to design a scalable ad serving system, a real-time bidding platform, or a system for managing user consent and privacy. Focus on components, data flow, APIs, scalability, fault tolerance, and observability.
• Technical Deep Dive: Expect questions on Java concurrency, memory management, garbage collection, and performance tuning. For front-end, focus on React lifecycle, state management (e.g., Redux, Context API), performance optimization, and TypeScript best practices.
• Problem Solving: Practice algorithmic problems common in distributed systems and web development. Be ready to whiteboard or code solutions efficiently.
• Behavioral: Prepare examples using the STAR method for situations related to technical leadership, mentoring, handling conflict, dealing with ambiguity, and driving projects to completion.

Company & Culture Questions:

• Disney's Business: Understand Disney's media portfolio (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, ABC) and the role of advertising in their business model.
• Ad Tech Landscape: Research current trends in Ad Tech, particularly in CTV, programmatic advertising, privacy changes (e.g., cookie deprecation), and their implications.
• Team Fit: Articulate how your values and working style align with Disney's culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence.

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: Structure your portfolio presentation around the problems you solved, the solutions you engineered, and the impact you delivered.
• Visual Aids: Use diagrams, screenshots, and code snippets to illustrate your points effectively.
• Quantify Impact: Clearly state the metrics and results achieved by your projects.
• Focus on Leadership: Highlight instances where you mentored others, influenced technical decisions, or drove best practices.
• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Prepare to answer detailed questions about your technical choices, trade-offs, and lessons learned.

📝 Enhancement Note: A strong understanding of both the technical requirements and the business context of Ad Platforms at Disney is crucial. Candidates should be ready to discuss their experience with large-scale systems, modern web technologies, and the specific challenges of the Ad Tech industry.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Principal Front-end Engineer position:

• Submit Your Application: Apply directly through The Walt Disney Company's careers portal.
• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your experience with Java, Node.js, React, NextJS, Typescript, AWS, distributed systems, and any Ad Tech exposure. Quantify achievements with numbers and metrics.
• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate examples of your most impactful projects, focusing on system design, scalability, performance improvements, and leadership contributions. Be ready to discuss these in detail.
• Research Disney & Ad Tech: Familiarize yourself with Disney's media products, the Ad Platforms organization, and current trends in the Ad Tech industry, especially CTV.
• Practice Interview Questions: Rehearse answers to common technical, system design, and behavioral questions, using the STAR method for behavioral examples.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.