Distinguished, Data Scientist

Walmart • Sunnyvale, CA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Walmart Ads is investing heavily in creative intelligence — the AI systems that generate, evaluate, understand, and continuously improve the ad creative advertisers use to reach customers, spanning static image and copy formats as well as video ads. As a Distinguished Data Scientist, you will set technical direction for this space: building / leveraging generative models that produce high-quality ad assets at scale, the automated evaluation systems that judge and improve them, and the structured understanding of creative content that powers downstream targeting, measurement, and personalization. About Team: At Walmart Global Tech, the Walmart Ads Data Science team drives innovation in digital advertising by powering a fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar ads business across Sponsored Products, Display, and agentic buying experiences. The team builds the intelligence behind recommendations, bidding, and generative ad creative that help advertisers reach the right customers and grow their business on Walmart. Leveraging real-time signals, generative AI, and deep integration across Walmart’s advertiser and customer platforms, the team turns advertiser intent into measurable performance at scale.

Requirements

• 10+ years of applied ML/DS experience, with deep, hands-on expertise in generative AI (image generation, text generation, video generation or multi-modal generation) and computer vision
• Proven experience designing automated model-evaluation systems (e.g., model-as-judge approaches) for generative output — including calibration, drift detection, and reliability at production scale.
• Strong computer vision background — image understanding, composition, matching/cropping, or artifact/distortion detection.
• A track record of taking generative ML systems from prototype to production at scale , with safety, moderation, and policy constraints designed in from the start.
• Demonstrated technical leadership at Distinguished scope — setting direction across multiple workstreams, influencing without direct authority, and operating effectively amid ambiguous and evolving requirements.
• Excellent communication skills; able to translate deep technical tradeoffs for senior product and business audiences.
• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 6 years' experience in an analytics related field.
• Master’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 4 years' experience in an analytics related field.
• 8 years' experience in an analytics or related field.

Nice To Haves

• 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.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical vision and roadmap for generative ad creative systems — producing images, copy, video and other ad assets that are high-quality, on-brand, compliant and performant at Walmart's advertiser scale.
• Design and own automated systems that evaluate generated creative quality — using models to judge model output — including calibration against human/advertiser preference and defenses against common failure modes (distortion, hallucination, policy violations).
• Build structured representations of creative content (attributes, categories, quality signals) that other teams can consume as reusable signals for targeting, recommendations, and performance measurement.
• Drive advances in automated content composition and adaptation — combining computer vision and generative techniques to produce creative assets across many formats and placements without manual production effort.
• Architect shared infrastructure — evaluation harnesses, generation pipelines, quality signals — so creative-AI capabilities compound across use cases instead of being rebuilt per project.
• Partner closely with Product and Engineering leadership to translate ambiguous, evolving creative-product goals into a concrete, sequenced technical roadmap.

Benefits

• Competitive pay
• Performance-based bonus awards
• Medical coverage
• Vision coverage
• Dental coverage
• 401(k)
• Stock purchase
• Company-paid life insurance
• PTO (including sick leave)
• Parental leave
• Family care leave
• Bereavement
• Jury duty
• Voting
• Short-term disability
• Long-term disability
• Company discounts
• Military Leave Pay
• Adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement
• Live Better U (Walmart-paid education benefit program for full-time and part-time associates)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal