Sr Audio Digital Signal Processing Engineer Job at Disney in San Francisco

Sr Audio Digital Signal Processing Engineer

The Skywalker Sound Development Group is seeking an innovative and experienced Audio Digital Signal Processing Engineer to develop and implement advanced audio processing solutions that integrate seamlessly into modern media production pipelines. This role bridges deep DSP expertise with practical engineering skills, enabling the creation of tools and algorithms that meet the demanding standards of the film and entertainment industries.

As an Senior Audio DSP Engineer, you will design and optimize audio processing algorithms while collaborating with cross-functional teams to deploy solutions using modern development practices. Your work will focus on enabling high-quality, efficient, and reliable audio workflows for applications such as speech enhancement, dynamics processing, noise reduction and spatial audio processing.

This role is considered Hybrid, which means the employee will work 2-3 days onsite at our San Francisco office and occasionally from home.

What you'll do

Develop, implement, and optimize DSP algorithms for audio applications.

Collaborate with AI / ML researchers, data scientists, and engineers to combine traditional DSP techniques with machine learning approaches.

Ensure compliance with film and media audio standards, including channel formats (e.g., 5.1, 7.1, Atmos), bit depth, sample rates and timecode.

Utilize collaborative development workflows, including GitLab, to manage source control and ensure clean, maintainable codebases.

Leverage CI / CD pipelines for building, testing, and deploying DSP applications.

Integrate DSP solutions into scalable, containerized environments using tools like Docker.

Write and execute unit tests to validate algorithm accuracy and performance.

Work with media-specific file containers (e.g., MXF, WAV, AIFF) and codecs, ensuring compatibility across workflows.

Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to ensure solutions meet both technical and creative needs.

Stay informed of emerging trends in audio technology, DSP, and media workflows to guide future development efforts.

What we're looking for

Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field; equivalent professional experience considered. Master’s degree is preferred.

5+ years of experience in DSP development, with applications in media, film, or entertainment industries.

Strong knowledge of digital signal processing principles, including analog and digital filtering, audio effects, spectral and spatial analysis / synthesis, perceptual audio coding, parametric audio coding and dynamics processing.

Proficiency in programming languages such as C / C++, Python, or MATLAB, with experience using collaborative Git workflows.

Experience with containerized deployments (e.g., Docker).

Experience with optimization of processing for cloud and on-prem application deployment.

Familiarity with modern CI / CD tools (e.g., GitLab CI / CD) for building and deploying software.

Solid understanding of film audio standards and formats, including multichannel and immersive audio (e.g., Dolby Atmos, Ambisonics).

Experience with unit testing frameworks and automated test pipelines.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience working with media production pipelines, including audio post-production workflows.

Familiarity with audio processing libraries and plugin frameworks such as JUCE, CoreAudio, or PortAudio.

Knowledge of machine learning frameworks and how they interact with DSP, such as using neural networks for audio effects.

Expertise with audio file formats and metadata, including WAV, AIFF, and MXF containers.

Contributions to open-source projects or published research in the field of audio DSP.

Understanding of GPU acceleration for audio processing tasks.

Knowledge of machine learning techniques, tools and libraries such as Pytorch.

The hiring range for this position in San Francisco, CA is $117,100 to $156,900 per year. 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.

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