below marketmost similar roles pay hereabove market
This role pays more than
87%
of similar roles. Most pay
$165,000–$214,500
— the blue band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$214k
versus about
$190k
for comparable roles.
Based on 240 similar postings.
Employer
About Walmart
Walmart Inc. is the world''s largest retailer by revenue, operating a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores, as well as a growing e-commerce presence through Walmart.com. Industry: General Merchandise & Grocery Retail
Walmart currently has
825 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$121,000–$242,000
across 473 roles with salary data.
JOB TITLE: (USA) Principal, Software Engineer
The Principal, Software Engineer joins the team responsible for the data pipeline framework supporting Search and Personalization. This role leads the design and evolution of large-scale, cloud-native data infrastructure to power e-commerce features. You will own the full data engineering lifecycle, including ingestion, transformation, orchestration, testing, deployment, and monitoring of distributed systems. Key responsibilities involve building high-throughput, low-latency batch and streaming pipelines to produce ML-ready features and datasets. You will utilize Spark, Kafka, Hadoop, and Airflow while programming in Python, Java, or Scala. The role requires expertise in data modeling, warehousing, and CI/CD practices within cloud platforms like Azure, GCP, or AWS. You will solve complex technical problems by ensuring data quality, lineage, and reliability for search relevance and personalized shopping experiences.
What does a Software Engineer earn in California?
Median $214500 from 1193 postings across 76 companies.
Lead the architecture and delivery of scalable, cloud-native data pipelines and reusable infrastructure.
Own the end-to-end data engineering lifecycle including ingestion, transformation, orchestration, testing, and deployment.
Build high-throughput batch and streaming pipelines to produce ML-ready features for search and personalization.
Provide technical leadership and mentorship to data engineering teams on modeling and architectural consistency.
Translate business and machine learning requirements into scalable data solutions with measurable success metrics.
Ensure data quality, lineage, and reliability through observability frameworks and SLA ownership.
Drive continuous improvement by adopting emerging data engineering technologies and sharing knowledge.
What we're looking for
Option 1: Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or related area and 5 years’ experience in software engineering or related area.
Option 2: 7 years’ experience in software engineering or related area.
Master’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or related area and 3 years' experience in software engineering or related area (preferred).
Extensive experience leading large-scale data engineering initiatives, including distributed data processing, data modeling, and cloud-native data platforms.
Proven expertise with big data technologies like Spark, Kafka, and Hadoop, and orchestration tools like Airflow.
Strong programming skills in Python, Java, or Scala for building production-grade ETL/ELT and streaming pipelines.
Deep understanding of data warehousing, feature engineering, and data infrastructure supporting ML/AI systems.
Experience with cloud platforms (Azure, GCP, or AWS) and CI/CD practices for data systems.
Python
Java
C++
AI/ML
Cloud-native Architecture
Distributed Systems
CI/CD
Platform Engineering
Software Development Lifecycle
Monitoring
Incident Management
Real-time Data Processing
WCAG) 2.2 AA