Principal Data Scientist: Associate AI experience

Position Summary...

What you'll do...

We are seeking a Principal Data Scientist to provide technical leadership and long‑term vision for next‑generation AI systems and platforms. This senior individual contributor will drive breakthrough system design and advanced solution development that transforms Walmart at scale. The role combines deep technical expertise (ML, simulation, optimization, agentic AI) with cross‑functional influence, mentoring of senior talent, and delivery of high‑impact, productionized solutions. You will be a great fit if: - You architect end-to-end ML/AI systems — from feature engineering through production deployment and monitoring - You’ve built and shipped multiple autonomous AI agents (not just experimented with LLM APIs) - You’re Level 5+ on Steve Yegge’s Vibe Coding scale and can ship production systems through AI-assisted development - You combine deep statistical rigor with practical business impact
 About the Team The Associate AI Experiences team applies advanced data science, machine learning, and agentic AI to solve high-impact business problems across Walmart globally. You’ll build production Agentic systems, deploy autonomous AI agents, and translate complex data into actionable insights that drive measurable business value at massive scale. Our team builds intelligent platforms, agents and ML-powered solutions that make associates’ jobs easier, faster, and more fulfilling across stores, fulfillment centers, distribution centers, and home office. We leverage the Element LLM Gateway to safely access state-of-the-art language models while keeping all data within Walmart’s network. Our work spans NLP, computer vision, time series forecasting, and multi-agent AI systems at enterprise scale.

What You’ll Do

• Build and deploy production ML systems end-to-end: data pipelines, feature stores, model training, serving layers, monitoring, and feedback loops at scale
• Provide technical visionand lead advanced development in agentic AI, reinforcement learning, and simulation. 
• Architect and deploy large-scale AI systems and autonomous AI agents — conversational assistants, predictive agents with tool-calling, and multi-agent orchestration systems using LangChain, Pydantic AI, and RAG patterns
• Design agentic evaluation frameworks that benchmark agent performance across task completion, code quality, and multi-step reasoning accuracy
• Deploy NLP pipelines at enterprise scale — semantic similarity across millions of records using BERT/SBERT embeddings and vector search (FAISS)
• Lead high-impact projects end-to-end; problem framing, modeling, prototyping, production architecture, and rollout. 
• Author and review technical designs and standards; present findings to senior leadership.
• Mentor senior scientists and engineers on advanced modeling techniques, feature engineering, and experimentation design - raising the technical bar across teams.
• Establish best practices for model validations, experiemention, and safe deployment of AI systems. 
• Influence roadmap prioritization and long-term strategy for AI and simulation capabilities. 
• Present insights to senior leadership with compelling data visualization, quantified business impact, and clear confidence intervals.

What You’ll Bring

• Deep expertise in ML algorithms (XGBoost, CatBoost, LightGBM, Random Forest, AutoML) and deep learning (PyTorch, transformer architectures).
• Production experience with NLP (BERT, SBERT, FAISS, RAG), computer vision (YOLO, CLIP), and time series forecasting (ARIMA, Prophet).
• Hands-on experience building and orchestrating multiple AI agents with LangChain, RAG, tool integration, and memory management.
• Multi-cloud ML platform proficiency — AWS SageMaker AND GCP (Vertex AI, BigQuery, BigQuery ML).
• Strong Python skills (Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn) with containerization (Docker) and MLOps practices.
• Advanced statistical analysis, experiment design, and causal inference
• Experience deploying production-grade AI systems at scale. 
• Ability to translate complex analytical results into clear business recommendations for non-technical stakeholders.

Minimum Qualifications

• Masters degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 5+ years’ experience in data science or Machine Learning roles with demonstrated impact. 

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in AI, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Information Technology, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Econometrics, or related field with relevant industry experience.

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.
Bentonville, Arkansas US-10735: The annual salary range for this position is $110,000.00 - $220,000.00
Bellevue, Washington US-11663: The annual salary range for this position is $132,000.00 - $264,000.00
Sunnyvale, California US-11807: The annual salary range for this position is $143,000.00 - $286,000.00 Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses. Additional compensation for certain positions may also include :
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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...

2501 Se J St, Ste A, Bentonville, AR 72716-3724, United States of America

Walmart 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.