Lead Machine Learning Engineer - Ad Platforms

Job Posting Title:

Lead Machine Learning Engineer - Ad Platforms

Req ID:

10129949

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.

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 tenant is a strong cross-domain team to deliver E2E solutions for machine learning and data science. 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!

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• 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. 

WHAT TO BRING

• Bachelors degree (MS or PhD preferred) in computer science or equivalent experience
• At least 7 years of working experience on large scale machine learning at leading internet companies. Experience in the advertising domain is preferred.  Experience with forecasting algorithm is preferred.
• Strong knowledge of AI/ML technologies, mathematics and statistics.
• Proficient in Java, Python, Scala, large scale ML/DL platforms and processing tech stack.
• 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.

NICE-TO-HAVES

• Experience in digital video advertising or digital marketing domain
• Experience with CTR/CVR model, generative AI, forecasting model.
• Experience with feature store, audience segmentation and MLOps
• Experience with Tensorflow, Kubeflow, Databricks or Sagemaker

#DISNEYTECH

The hiring range for this position in Santa Monica, CA and Glendale, CA is $167,700 - $224,900 per year and in Seattle is $175,800 - $235,700. 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:

Ad Platforms

Job Posting Primary Business:

AP - Software Engineering

Primary Job Posting Category:

Machine Learning

Employment Type:

Full time

Primary City, State, Region, Postal Code:

Santa Monica, CA, USA

Alternate City, State, Region, Postal Code:

USA - WA - 925 4th Ave

Date Posted:

2025-08-28