Senior Staff R&D Engineer

The Walt Disney Company

Confirmed live 2 days ago High trust
Hybrid

Quick summary

Work type
Hybrid
Location
Nicasio, CA
Salary
$206,400–$276,700 / yr
Posted
23 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live 2 days ago

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $195k
This role $242k
$146k most similar roles pay here $291k

This role pays more than 82% of similar roles. Most pay $167,500–$222,000 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $242k versus about $195k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is a diversified global entertainment and media enterprise operating in segments including Disney Parks, Experiences and Products; Entertainment (ABC, Hulu, Disney+); and ESPN. Industry: Entertainment & Media

The Walt Disney Company currently has 118 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $148,700–$199,400 across 118 roles with salary data.

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View all roles at The Walt Disney Company

At a glance

TL;DR · Senior Staff R&D Engineer

The Skywalker Sound Development Group is seeking a Sr Staff R&D Engineer to lead the development of transformative audio intelligence technologies for global media production. As part of the applied R&D team, you will architect and optimize machine learning systems for speech processing, style transfer, upmixing, source separation, and generative audio synthesis. You will build scalable training pipelines using PyTorch and distributed computing frameworks while developing novel models including latent diffusion, flow-based models, variational autoencoders, and neural vocoders. The role involves managing the full model lifecycle, from pretraining and fine-tuning to inference optimization and CI/CD integration. Key technical requirements include expertise in MLOps tools like Weights & Biases or MLflow, Docker containerization, and audio signal processing fundamentals. You will solve complex problems in media post-production by translating emerging research into production-ready solutions for professional soundtrack environments.

What you'll do

  • Lead the research and implementation of machine learning algorithms for speech processing, voice transfer, source separation, and upmixing.
  • Architect and deploy scalable model training pipelines using PyTorch and distributed computing frameworks.
  • Develop generative audio models including latent diffusion, flow-based models, VAEs, and neural vocoders.
  • Manage the end-to-end model lifecycle including pretraining, fine-tuning, validation, inference optimization, and CI/CD integration.
  • Create personalized model adaptation workflows to support per-user tuning and cross-project continuity.
  • Define integration strategies for audio models within a secure, cloud-optimized SaaS environment.
  • Translate emerging research in generative audio and multi-modal modeling into production-ready innovations.
  • Develop internal tools and infrastructure to improve the iteration speed and reproducibility of deployed models.

What we're looking for

  • Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Applied Math, or a related field focused on AI/ML and multi-modal signal processing.
  • At least 5 years of professional experience in applied ML with a focus on audio-centric research and deployment.
  • Expertise in building and scaling models using PyTorch for deep neural network training, fine-tuning, and inference.
  • Demonstrated experience developing generative models such as VAE, GAN, diffusion models, or neural vocoders.
  • Deep understanding of audio-specific ML domains including source separation, speech enhancement, and music processing.
  • Proficiency in audio signal processing fundamentals and integrating DSP into machine learning pipelines.
  • Experience with MLOps tooling, Docker containerization, and scalable infrastructure for distributed training.
  • Ability to contribute to architectural planning, research strategy, and production deployment in complex environments.

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