Senior Machine Learning Engineer - Personalization

Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer focused on personalization for Disney Streaming apps, including Disney+ and Hulu. The role is an Individual Contributor position that leads the research, development, and deployment of recommendation algorithms, working closely with Engineering, Product, and Data teams to drive personalization at scale.

Responsibilities

• Algorithm Development and Maintenance: Apply cutting edge machine learning methods to build personalization and recommendation systems, and maintain production-deployed algorithms while explaining methodologies to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Feature Engineering and Optimization: Create and maintain ETL pipelines with orchestration tools such as Airflow and Jenkins; deploy scalable streaming and batch data pipelines to support petabyte-scale datasets.
• Development Best Practices: Establish and uphold standards for algorithm development, testing, and deployment.
• Collaborate with product and business stakeholders: Identify new personalization opportunities and partner with other data teams to enhance data collection, experimentation, and analysis.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience developing machine learning models, performing large-scale data analysis, and/or data engineering experience
• 5+ years writing production-level, scalable code (Python, SQL)
• 3+ years of experience developing algorithms for deployment to production systems
• In-depth understanding of modern machine learning, including deep learning methods, models, and their mathematical underpinnings
• Experience deploying and maintaining pipelines and engineering big-data solutions using Databricks, S3, and Spark
• Ability to gauge the complexity of machine learning problems and implement simple approaches for quick, effective solutions as appropriate
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• MS or PhD in statistics, math, computer science, or related quantitative field
• Production experience with developing content recommendation algorithms at scale
• Experience building and deploying full stack ML pipelines: data extraction, data mining, model training, feature development, testing, and deployment
• Familiar with data governance concepts such as metadata management and data lineage
• Experience loading and querying cloud-hosted databases
• AWS
• Databricks
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Math, Statistics, or related quantitative field

Technologies

• Python
• SQL
• Airflow
• Jenkins
• Databricks
• S3
• Spark
• AWS

Benefits

• Medical benefits
• Financial benefits
• Bonus and/or long-term incentive units

Compensation

USD 148,700 - 199,400 per year

Role Location

On-site role in New York, NY, requiring four days in-person at the designated office location.

Why you’ll love working here

• Building the future of Disney’s media: Our technologists design and build the products and platforms that power media, advertising, and distribution for years to come.
• Reach, Scale & Impact: Disney’s technology and products serve as a signature gateway for fans to connect with the brands and stories we tell, across Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, ABC, ABC News, and more.
• Innovation: We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and address complex technical challenges.