Andre Rohe, who previously held senior engineering roles at Meta, YouTube and Google, has been hired to lead a newly created consolidated product engineering team in the Disney Entertainment and ESPN technology group.
Rohe reports directly to Adam Smith, chief product and technology officer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN, who joined the company last September. The new organization headed by Rohe unifies many of the Disney and ESPN product engineering teams into a single team focused on digital products and platforms spanning entertainment and sports properties.
Rohe joins Disney Entertainment and ESPN after more than two decades leading engineering teams at Meta, YouTube, Google and fabless semiconductor company Tabula, where he has driven work in recommendations, personalization, AI, machine learning, big data and more across news, entertainment, video and more.
Rohe and Smith previously worked together: Smith is a 20-year alum of YouTube and Google, having most recently served as VP of product management at YouTube.
“Andre is an incredibly talented technologist that brings not only a deep background in managing world-class engineering teams and years of expertise in scaled recommendation and product personalization, but also a truly collaborative spirit,” Smith said in announcing Rohe’s hire. “He’s a great addition to Disney and ESPN, leading an outstanding team and working alongside other technologists and leaders in our media businesses. His skill and leadership will add to our capacity to innovate and elevate the impact that our products have on global audiences.”
Rohe said in a statement: “Disney is an incredible company, and one that has touched the lives of so many people, myself included. It’s exciting to be a part of that and to reunite with Adam, and it’s humbling to have the opportunity to lead this great team of engineers as we work to shape the future of how people around the world engage with entertainment and sports.”
Rohe most recently was VP of engineering at Meta, supporting Feed, Recommendation, Reels ranking, Facebook videos and Search, working at the company from October 2021 to March 2023. He left Meta to take a break and travel the world with his wife.
Prior to Meta, Rohe spent six years at YouTube, where as VP of engineering he led the team working on all recommendations for the video platform. He previously worked at Google, where he was in charge of engineering and product for Google News, as well as growth and ranking for the social product area. Rohe holds a doctorate in discrete mathematics from the University of Bonn in Germany.
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