(USA) Principal, Software Engineer - Fraud and Risk Platform

Walmart • Sunnyvale, CA

3d • Onsite

About The Position

As a Principal Engineer in Walmart’s Fraud and Risk platform, you will define and drive the architecture of next-generation fraud and risk prevention systems at massive scale. You will lead the design of platforms that combine real-time decisioning, entity intelligence, agentic AI, and human-in-the-loop workflows. This role requires deep technical leadership, owning architecture across systems and enabling teams to build scalable, intelligent, and explainable fraud prevention platforms. The Inkiru team's mission is to detect and prevent Fraud in real time and enable a safe shopping experience for all our customers online and in-store. We are a team of passionate Engineers, Data scientists and Product managers who love to challenge each other but work together to build a platform to find the proverbial needle in a haystack. As an engineer on the team, you will help build systems that can process data at the scale of Walmart to derive insights in milliseconds that power lightning-fast detection of fraudsters. You will have the opportunity to work closely with our data scientists, Product Managers, business partners and systems engineers to drive the definition and implementation of platform services, applications and analytics tools for our predictive intelligence platform.

Requirements

• Proven track record of architecting and scaling large distributed systems
• Deep expertise in system design, platform engineering, and microservices architecture
• Strong experience with real-time decision systems and high-throughput architectures
• Experience architecting systems that operationalize ML models at scale
• Strong understanding of ML-driven decisioning systems and tradeoffs (rules vs models)
• Familiarity with fraud/risk systems, identity systems, or trust & safety domains
• 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.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with entity resolution, graph systems, or behavioral analytics (strong plus)
• Ability to drive alignment and influence across organizations
• Strong technical judgment with a focus on long-term scalability and maintainability
• 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.
• 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.
• 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

• Define Architecture for Fraud & Risk Platforms
• Lead system design for real-time fraud detection and policy enforcement
• Architect entity resolution and graph intelligence systems
• Design agentic AI platforms for automated fraud analysis and reasoning
• Shape case management and orchestration systems for investigations
• Drive AI-Native System Design
• Define patterns for integrating ML models and AI agents into production
• Lead development of explainability frameworks for fraud decisions
• Enable scalable systems for model deployment, evaluation, and iteration
• Own Cross-System Strategy
• Align architecture across Gateway, Platform, and Data Science teams
• Define integration patterns for real-time and batch systems
• Ensure systems meet requirements for latency, reliability, and scalability
• Lead Technical Direction
• Drive architectural standards, design patterns, and engineering best practices
• Guide teams through complex technical decisions and tradeoffs
• Establish long-term technical vision aligned with business goals
• Mentor & Influence
• Mentor senior and staff engineers across teams
• Influence hiring, engineering culture, and technical excellence
• Act as a thought leader in fraud, risk, and AI-driven systems

Benefits

• Incentive awards for performance
• 401(k) match
• Stock purchase plan
• Paid maternity and parental leave
• PTO
• Multiple health plans
• Competitive pay
• Performance-based bonus awards
• Medical coverage
• Vision coverage
• Dental coverage
• Company-paid life insurance
• Parental leave
• Family care leave
• Bereavement leave
• Jury duty leave
• Voting leave
• Short-term disability
• Long-term disability
• Company discounts
• Military Leave Pay
• Adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement
• PTO and/or PPTO that can be used for vacation, sick leave, holidays, or other purposes
• 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.

What This Job Offers

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