Director, Software Engineering

Who We Are…

When we say, “the stuff dreams are made of,” we’re not just referring to the world of wizards, dragons and superheroes, or even to the wonders of Planet Earth. Behind WBD’s vast portfolio of iconic content and beloved brands, are the storytellers bringing our characters to life, the creators bringing them to your living rooms and the dreamers creating what’s next…

From brilliant creatives, to technology trailblazers, across the globe, WBD offers career defining opportunities, thoughtfully curated benefits, and the tools to explore and grow into your best selves. Here you are supported, here you are celebrated, here you can thrive.

We are the now and the next. The power behind the people building the future. We are born from the spirit of innovation. We are created from the idea that people around the world want more, need more, deserve more. We are the home of the global digital revolution. We are CNN.

To see what it’s like to work at CNN, follow @WBDLife on Instagram and X!

CNN is the world’s most essential and engaging source of video and digital news, and we’re embarking on a crucial mission to invent the next generation of news and information experiences to inform, engage, and empower the world. We have a unique ability to marry content, design, product, and technology to spark connection, fulfill utility, and build community. With our consumer and facts-first strategy, we’re developing new platforms and formats that put CNN’s talent, expertise, and content programming directly in the hands of consumers.

Your New Role…

Our CNN Platforms team is looking for a Director, Software Engineering to lead several critical pillars of our CNN.com and CNN app digital experiences – Data Privacy, Site Performance & Accessibility, and Design Systems. The CNN Platforms team builds, operates, and optimizes our digital content platform to empower journalists and product teams to drive essential, sustainable, and facts-first storytelling. Our focus areas include the content management system powering our CNN editorial experiences, content distribution to internal systems and external partners, media management for assets, website and app performance, data privacy and governance, and our core CNN design system.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a technology leader who’s passionate about user-first product development and wants to make a meaningful impact at scale. You’ll play a key role in ensuring that our CNN.com and CNN app digital experiences are trustworthy, fast, inclusive, and visually consistent for millions of users around the world.

As the engineering steward of these core areas, you’ll collaborate with our product, design, program management, and legal partners to:

• Champion privacy-forward features that earn and maintain user trust
• Drive performance optimizations to keep our site and apps lightning fast
• Lead accessibility improvements so our platforms serve everyone
• Evolve our design systems to create consistent, intuitive, and beautiful user interfaces for CNN experiences and internal systems

Your Role Accountabilities…

Technical Leadership:

• Lead architecture and implementation of core tools and integrations supporting user consent flows, data privacy, performance monitoring, and design systems.
• Champion the evolution of scalable, extensible, and secure technical frameworks powering CNN’s platform experiences.
• Partner cross-functionally with Engineering leaders to embed these capabilities into rendering workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and internal observability systems.
• Engage in high-level roadmap planning, feature prioritization, and cross-functional delivery updates to ensure alignment across the CNN organization.

Team Management & Mentorship:

• Lead, mentor, and grow multiple teams of software engineers and managers, fostering a culture rooted in collaboration, innovation, and ownership.
• Champion engineering excellence through best practices, high-quality code standards, and efficient developer workflows.
• Oversee architectural design reviews and maintain active involvement in code quality through hands-on review contributions.

Collaboration & Communication:

• Collaborate closely with CNN product, program, and design teams to evaluate technical feasibility, enhance the developer experience, and deliver impactful product features to boost user engagement and retention.
• Align with DevOps, QA, Legal, Privacy, and WBD partner teams on infrastructure planning, testing strategies, and compliance with legal and privacy standards.
• Partner with Engineering leadership across CNN and broader WBD organizations to drive technology strategy, identify consolidation opportunities, and promote cross-team knowledge sharing.

Qualifications & Essentials…

• Proven experience (10+ years) in a software engineering leadership role within Data Privacy, Site Performance & Accessibility, and/or Design Systems.
• Strong experience (3+ years) managing and scaling high-performance engineering teams, with focus on mentorship, team development, and inclusive culture.
• Deep knowledge of modern web and mobile application architecture, with an emphasis on frontend development, UI/UX practices, and responsible user data management.
• Extensive experience in server architecture, cloud computing (AWS), backend services design and integration, and content management systems.
• Proficient in programming languages including Node.js, Go, JavaScript, and other relevant languages.
• Hands-on experience with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment strategies for web, mobile, and connected TV platforms.
• Extensive experience with legal and privacy regulations including GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, COPPA, PECR, consent management, and data governance.

• Deep expertise in site and app performance optimization, leveraging Core Web Vitals and page/screen loading strategies for fast, reliable user experiences.
• Strong background in developing and scaling design systems, with practical experience using Figma and building tools/scripts to translate design tokens into reusable code.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and team-building skills with the ability to align engineering initiatives to product and business goals.

Nice to haves…

• Experience working in news, media, or content-driven digital technology with understanding of unique challenges in fast-paced editorial environments.

How We Get Things Done…

This last bit is probably the most important! Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done. You can find them at www.wbd.com/guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.

Championing Inclusion at WBD

Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.

If you’re a qualified candidate with a disability and you require adjustments or accommodations during the job application and/or recruitment process, please visit our accessibility page for instructions to submit your request.

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