Staff Engineer Jobs in California
Staff Engineer jobs in California are among the most active in the country, concentrated in technology, semiconductor design, aerospace, and clean energy across a seniority range from early-career to principal-level. The largest hiring markets are the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego, where companies like Apple, Lockheed Martin, and Qualcomm maintain deep engineering workforces and hire staff engineers continuously. The most in-demand specializations include distributed systems, embedded hardware, and machine learning infrastructure. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
Find Staff Engineer JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 2,742+ Staff Engineer jobs











At Disney, we’re storytellers. We make the impossible, possible. The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) is a world-class entertainment and technological leader. Walt’s passion was to continuously envision new ways to move audiences around the world—a passion that remains our touchstone in an enterprise that stretches from theme parks, resorts and a cruise line to sports, news, movies and a variety of other businesses. Uniting each endeavor is a commitment to creating and delivering unforgettable experiences — and we’re constantly looking for new ways to enhance these exciting experiences.
The Enterprise Technology & Data mission is to deliver technology solutions that align to business strategies while enabling enterprise efficiency and promoting cross-company collaborative innovation. Our group drives competitive advantage by enhancing our consumer experiences, enabling business growth, and advancing operational excellence.
Team Description
This role is located within the Enterprise Products Organization under the Financial Value Chain business solutions area. Finance Value Chains will be delivering Priority Business Solutions aligned with the enterprise architecture for the Financial Planning (EPM) value chain.
The P4 Sr. Software Engineer is a Staff-level technical leader responsible for the architecture, technical direction, and end-to-end reliability of the Oracle EPM applications used across the Walt Disney Company. This role goes beyond individual feature delivery to own cross-module architecture decisions, set engineering standards for the team, and mentor other engineers — while remaining a hands-on, technical individual contributor.
What You’ll Do
1. Technical Architecture & Standards
- Architecture Ownership: Own the technical architecture and roadmap for Oracle EPM applications (Planning, FCCS, Data Management) supporting Disney’s Financial Planning value chain, ensuring design decisions scale across modules and integrations.
- Standards & Best Practices: Define and enforce coding, scripting, and integration standards for Calculation Scripts, Groovy, and EPM Integration Agent/REST API development across the engineering team.
- Technical Governance: Lead architecture and design reviews for new EPM features and integrations, ensuring solutions align with enterprise architecture principles and long-term platform stability.
2. Complex Feature & Integration Leadership
- End-to-End Ownership: Own delivery of the most complex, cross-module EPM initiatives, translating ambiguous business requirements into scalable technical designs with minimal oversight.
- Advanced Data Pipeline Design: Architect secure, resilient data pipelines connecting Oracle EPM to on-premises and cloud systems (e.g., SAP, Snowflake, upstream/downstream finance applications), optimizing for reliability and auditability.
- Performance & Scalability: Lead deep-dive diagnostics on the most demanding Essbase calculation scripts and business rules, driving platform-wide performance and capacity strategy rather than one-off fixes.
3. Technical Leadership & Mentorship
- Mentorship: Mentor Sr. and mid-level EPM engineers, elevating scripting practices, code quality, and troubleshooting rigor across the team.
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Serve as the principal technical liaison between engineering and Finance/FP&A stakeholders, shaping requirements and negotiating tradeoffs at the roadmap level.
- Escalation Authority: Act as the senior-most technical escalation point for production issues, owning root-cause resolution for the most critical cross-module failures.
- Peer Review Leadership: Own the code and design review process for the team, raising the bar on engineering rigor for configurations, scripts, and integration endpoints.
Required Qualifications & Skills
- Minimum of 7 years of technical experience in software engineering, with deep, demonstrated concentration in Oracle EPM architecture.
- Domain Mastery: Advanced expertise across multiple Oracle EPM modules (Planning, FCCS, Financial Consolidation and Close, Data Management), with a proven ability to architect solutions spanning modules.
- Scripting Mastery: Expert-level Calculation Script, Groovy, and Python scripting, with a track record of setting scripting standards adopted by other engineers.
- Data Management: Deep proficiency with multidimensional databases (Essbase), MDX queries, and enterprise-grade integrations via EPM Integration Agents or REST APIs.
- Engineering Leadership: Demonstrated experience leading technical design, driving engineering best practices (Git, testing frameworks, structured deployment pipelines), and setting technical direction for a team.
- Execution Mindset: Proven ability to balance strategic architecture work with hands-on delivery and production support at scale.
- Independence & Ambiguity: Track record of taking abstract, enterprise-level business strategy and translating it into concrete technical architecture with full autonomy.
Preferred Qualifications
- Finance experience, ideally within Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) or Corporate Finance, is a plus
- Experience serving as a technical lead within Agile/Scrum environments is a plus
- Media & Entertainment experience is a plus
- Oracle EPM Certification is a plus
Required Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience
#DISNEYTECH
#LI-AF2
Disclaimer
PAY TRANSPARENCY
The hiring range for this position in Burbank, CA is$158,100 - $211,900 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.
This position is with Disney Worldwide Services, Inc., which is part of a business we call The Walt Disney Company (Corporate).
To learn more about Disney's guidelines on the use of AI for candidates, click here.
Disney Worldwide Services, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Disney champions a business environment where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a constantly evolving world.
DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION FOR EMPLOYMENT APPLICATIONS
The Walt Disney Company and its Affiliated Companies are Equal Employment Opportunity employers and welcome all job seekers including individuals with disabilities and veterans with disabilities. If you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation in order to search for a job opening or apply for a position, visit the Disney candidate disability accommodations FAQs. We will only respond to those requests that are related to the accessibility of the online application system due to a disability.
Having technical issues? View the FAQs for help.
See All 2,742+ Staff Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Staff Engineer JobsStaff Engineer Jobs by City in California
Where California roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Staff Engineer Job Market in California
A snapshot from current California openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- Google126

- Qualcomm121

- ServiceNow71

- Northrop Grumman71

- Rivian60

Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software472
- Electronics & Hardware151
- Telecommunications77
- Artificial Intelligence69
- Consulting & Professional Services52
What California Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in staff engineer jobs across California.
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or a closely related technical field
- Seven or more years of hands-on engineering experience with demonstrated technical leadership
- Proven ability to define technical strategy and drive architecture decisions across multiple teams
- Deep expertise in at least one core discipline such as systems software, hardware design, or platform engineering
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and influencing engineering culture at an organizational level
- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills with product, design, and business stakeholders
Staff Engineer Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a staff engineer in California?
Becoming a staff engineer in California typically requires a bachelor's or master's degree in engineering or computer science followed by several years of progressive experience leading technical projects. California does not require a state-issued license for software or systems staff engineers, though hardware and civil-adjacent roles may involve Professional Engineer registration through the California Board for Professional Engineers. Most California employers promote into staff roles from senior engineer positions based on demonstrated scope of impact and cross-team influence.
Which companies hire staff engineers in California?
Employers hiring staff engineers in California right now include Google, Qualcomm, and ServiceNow, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. California's concentration of technology headquarters, defense contractors, and semiconductor firms means staff engineer demand stays consistent even when broader hiring slows.
Which California cities have the most staff engineer jobs?
San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and San Diego have the most staff engineer openings in California. The Bay Area leads because of its density of technology headquarters and venture-backed companies, while Los Angeles draws from aerospace, entertainment technology, and a growing startup ecosystem, and San Diego's strength in wireless communications and biotech hardware sustains consistent demand for senior individual contributors.
Are there remote staff engineer jobs in California?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 51% of staff engineer openings tied to California are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting how much of the work involves architecture, code review, and cross-team coordination that can happen asynchronously. Roles requiring hands-on lab work, hardware bring-up, or embedded systems development are more likely to require on-site presence.
How can I get hired as a staff engineer in California with little or no experience?
The most realistic path is landing a senior software or systems engineer role first, then building cross-team impact that justifies a staff-level promotion. Large California employers like Apple, Google, and Intel run university hiring programs and new-grad rotational tracks that feed the senior-to-staff pipeline. Strong open-source contributions, a portfolio showing systems-level design decisions, or experience as a tech lead in a smaller California company can accelerate the timeline considerably.
Where can I find and apply to staff engineer jobs in California?
You can find and apply to staff engineer jobs in California on Migrate Mate, which lists current California openings from employers actively hiring. Search for roles that match your specialization and experience level, then apply directly to the ones that fit.
See All 2,742+ Staff Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Staff Engineer Jobs