Principal, Data Scientist

Position Summary...

What you'll do...

Principal, Data Scientist – Code Puppy
AI & Data | Walmart Global Tech Position Summary Join the Associate AI Experiences team to apply advanced data science, machine learning, and agentic AI to solve high‑impact business problems across Walmart’s global operations. You will build production ML systems, deploy autonomous AI agents, and translate complex data into actionable insights that drive measurable business value at massive scale. You will be a great fit if you:

• Architect end‑to‑end ML systems—from feature engineering through production deployment and monitoring
• Have built and shipped multiple autonomous AI agents (not just experimented with LLM APIs)
• Are Level 5+ on Steve Yegge’s Vibe Coding scale and can ship production systems using AI‑assisted development
• Combine deep statistical rigor with practical, real‑world business impact

About the Team Our team builds intelligent agents and ML‑powered solutions that make associates’ jobs easier, faster, and more fulfilling across stores, fulfillment centers, distribution centers, and the 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, including data pipelines, feature stores, model training, serving layers, monitoring, and feedback loops at scale
• Architect and deploy autonomous AI agents, including conversational assistants, predictive agents with tool calling, and multi‑agent orchestration systems using LangChain, Pydantic AI, and RAG patterns
• Design agentic evaluation frameworks to benchmark agent performance across task completion, code quality, and multi‑step reasoning accuracy
• Deploy NLP pipelines at enterprise scale, enabling semantic similarity across millions of records using BERT/SBERT embeddings and vector search (FAISS)
• Engineer computer vision systems for real‑time inference (YOLO, RT‑DETR, CLIP) with multi‑GPU training optimization
• Build time‑series forecasting models that drive inventory optimization, demand planning, and financial projections across multiple geographies
• Present insights to senior leadership using compelling data visualizations, quantified business impact, and clearly defined confidence intervals
• Mentor team members on advanced modeling techniques, feature engineering, and experimental design
• Travel internationally to support Walmart operations in Canada, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Europe, and the UK

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 across AWS SageMaker and GCP (Vertex AI, BigQuery, BigQuery ML)
• Strong Python skills (Pandas, NumPy, scikit‑learn), containerization expertise (Docker), and MLOps best practices
• Advanced knowledge of statistical analysis, experimental design, and causal inference
• Proven ability to translate complex analytical results into clear, actionable business recommendations for non‑technical stakeholders

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
Sunnyvale, California US-11807: The annual salary range for this position is $143,000.00 - $286,000.00
Bellevue, Washington US-11075: The annual salary range for this position is $132,000.00 - $264,000.00 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.