Principal, Data Scientist

Position Summary...

What you'll do...

This Principal-level role is a strategic technical leader within Walmart’s eCommerce Analytics Platform & Engineering team. The Principal Data Scientist will drive the vision, architecture, and implementation of Walmart’s next-generation AI infrastructure, GenAI platforms, and engineering capabilities that power intelligent automation, AI agents, and real-time decisioning at global scale. You will lead the end-to-end design of high-performance AI systems—including model training and serving infrastructure, distributed inference pipelines, data and feature platforms, retrieval/grounding services, and automation frameworks that support safe, reliable, and scalable GenAI across the enterprise.
This role requires a rare combination of deep technical expertise, systems design excellence, and the ability to influence engineering, data science, and product teams at the highest levels.
Responsibilities
🔹 AI Infrastructure Architecture & Leadership • Serve as Walmart’s principal architect for enterprise AI infrastructure, defining patterns for distributed training, vector retrieval systems, LLM inference optimization, and scalable agent backends.
• Lead design of GenAI platform components, including: o Orchestration and lifecycle management for LLMs and multimodal models o Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines o Vector search and embedding pipelines o Model serving, autoscaling, and high-availability inference systems • Architect end-to-end platforms using Vertex AI, Google Cloud AI infrastructure, and Azure AI services where applicable.
🔹 GenAI Platform Development & Engineering • Build and evolve core GenAI platform capabilities used across eCommerce Analytics: o Agent orchestration and backend frameworks o Tool/action routing services o System prompts, grounding, and context management o Observability, evaluation, safety, and feedback loops
• Partner with product engineering teams to integrate GenAI solutions into productionfacing commerce, analytics, and automation experiences. • Lead strategic evaluations of emerging AI technologies and drive their adoption across Walmart’s AI ecosystem.
🔹 Distributed Systems, AI Performance & Scale • Architect and optimize high-scale data and inference pipelines running on Dataproc, Kubernetes, Airflow, and cloud-native distributed systems. • Improve performance of AI workloads through advanced techniques: o Parallelized preprocessing & feature generation o Distributed training optimization o Token-level and batch-level inference acceleration o Memory and compute efficiency strategies for LLMs • Lead operational excellence across AI systems including monitoring, incident response, load forecasting, and automated self-healing.
🔹 AI/ML Engineering Standards & Technical Influence • Define engineering standards for AI observability, versioning, deployment, model telemetry, and responsible AI integrations. • Mentor senior-level data scientists and engineers on best practices in AI infrastructure, scalable ML engineering, and GenAI systems design. • Provide domain expertise to help shape Walmart’s enterprise-wide strategies for AI adoption, AI governance, and future-facing platform technology. Skills & Experience AI Infrastructure & Distributed Systems Expertise • Deep experience architecting distributed AI/ML systems, including training clusters, inference serving layers, and retrieval-augmented systems. • Expert-level understanding of large-scale compute, networking, cluster orchestration, cloud infrastructure, and performance engineering. • Hands-on experience building and optimizing: o LLM inference systems o Embedding & vector search pipelines o Model serving & batch/streaming inference o Real-time AI agent backends AI/ML Platform Tools & Cloud Technologies • Vertex AI (Pipelines, Predictions, Feature Store, Vector Search, Search, Model Registry, Workbench) • Google Cloud AI infrastructure, SDKs, Cloud Build, Artifact Registry, IAM, Cloud Run, Cloud Functions • BigQuery, Presto, Cloud SQL, Cassandra, MongoDB • Graph DB technologies such as Neo4j for relationship modeling and knowledge graphbased retrieval • Microsoft Fabric & Microsoft Foundry AI services (preferred) Programming & Engineering Skills • Strong proficiency in Python and SQL; experience with Scala, Java, R, or Bash is a plus. • Experience building CI/CD systems for AI workloads and cloud-native observability frameworks. • Strong familiarity with ML engineering and model evaluation frameworks. Education & Experience • 8–12+ years of experience in AI infrastructure, ML platform engineering, large-scale distributed systems, or cloud-based AI/ML environments. • Graduate degree (MS or PhD) in a quantitative or engineering discipline preferred. • Demonstrated experience driving enterprise-scale AI strategy, platform architecture, and cross-functional engineering initiatives. • A proven track record enabling AI and automation at scale through strong architectural vision, experimentation, and technical leadership
At Walmart, we offer competitive pay as well as performance-based bonus awards and other great benefits for a happier mind, body, and wallet. Health benefits include medical, vision and dental coverage. Financial benefits include 401(k), stock purchase and company-paid life insurance. Paid time off benefits include PTO (including sick leave), parental leave, family care leave, bereavement, jury duty, and voting. Other benefits include short-term and long-term disability, company discounts, Military Leave Pay, adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, and more.
You will also receive PTO and/or PPTO that can be used for vacation, sick leave, holidays, or other purposes. The amount you receive depends on your job classification and length of employment. It will meet or exceed the requirements of paid sick leave laws, where applicable.
For information about PTO, see https://one.walmart.com/notices.
Live Better U is a Walmart-paid education benefit program for full-time and part-time associates in Walmart and Sam's Club facilities. Programs range from high school completion to bachelor's degrees, including English Language Learning and short-form certificates. Tuition, books, and fees are completely paid for by Walmart.
Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to a specific plan or program terms.
For information about benefits and eligibility, see One.Walmart.

The annual salary range for this position is $110,000.00 - $220,000.00
Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses.
Additional compensation for certain positions may also include :
- Stock

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Minimum Qualifications...

Outlined below are the required minimum qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no minimum qualifications.

Option 1: Bachelors degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 5 years' experience in an analytics related field. Option 2: Masters degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 3 years' experience in an analytics related field. Option 3: 7 years' experience in an analytics or related field

Preferred Qualifications...

Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.

Data science, machine learning, optimization models, PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Information Technology, Operations Research, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Econometrics, Publications or active peer reviewer in related journals or conference, Successful completion of one or more assessments in Python, Spark, Scala, or R, Using open source frameworks (for example, scikit learn, tensorflow, torch), We value candidates with a background in creating inclusive digital experiences, demonstrating knowledge in implementing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standards, assistive technologies, and integrating digital accessibility seamlessly. The ideal candidate would have knowledge of accessibility best practices and join us as we continue to create accessible products and services following Walmart’s accessibility standards and guidelines for supporting an inclusive culture.

Primary Location...

1601 SE 10th St, Bentonville, AR 72716, United States of AmericaWalmart and its subsidiaries are committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace and has a no tolerance policy regarding the use of illegal drugs and alcohol on the job. This policy applies to all employees and aims to create a safe and productive work environment.

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