Principal, Software Engineer-Display Ads
About The Position
As a Principal Software Engineer, you will design, develop, and improve algorithms for display ads optimization, including budgeting, pacing, bidding, and ranking. You will work closely with Data Science and Product to formulate problems, collaborate with engineering teams to build scalable, high-performance services with strong observability, identify optimization opportunities, and continually improve systems and algorithms. The Walmart Display Ads team connects brand owners and shoppers through relevant display ads. The Display Ad Serving team develops services to understand shopper intent and context, serve relevant ads, and optimize campaign performance. The team emphasizes project and stakeholder management, continuous improvement, engineering excellence, coaching, problem solving, and innovation. The position involves translating business needs into technical requirements and measurable outcomes; prototyping optimization algorithms with Data Scientists; building low-latency data pipelines for budgeting, pacing, and real-time bidding; developing campaign optimization algorithms and prediction models; and creating offline simulation tools and online dark-canary systems to support rapid, low-risk iteration.
Requirements
- Proficiency in at least one programming language, such as Java, Python, or C++.
- Proven track record developing, deploying, and operating fault-tolerant feedback-control or reinforcement-learning algorithms.
- Bachelor’s degree in operations research, computer science, or a related field, or the stated alternative qualification of at least seven years of software engineering or related experience.
- Minimum qualifications: a bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or a related area and five years of software engineering or related experience; alternatively, seven years of software engineering or related experience.
- Extensive experience in platform engineering leadership, delivering scalable infrastructure and reusable tooling aligned with strategic roadmaps.
- Demonstrated technical leadership, mentorship, and influence on architectural standards across teams.
- Excellent problem-solving skills focused on operational metrics and customer-centric solutions.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s or Ph.D. degree; the minimum qualifications also specify a preferred master’s-degree route with three years of software engineering or related experience.
- AdTech experience.
- Knowledge of accessibility best practices, WCAG 2.2 AA, assistive technologies, and creating accessible digital experiences.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business needs into actionable technical requirements and measurable outcomes.
- Collaborate with Data Scientists to prototype optimization algorithms and build roadmaps.
- Collaborate with engineering teams to build low-latency data pipelines supporting budgeting and pacing algorithms and real-time bidding decisions.
- Design, implement, test, and improve campaign optimization algorithms and training prediction models to achieve advertiser goals and provide actionable insights.
- Build offline simulation tools and online dark-canary systems to support rapid algorithm development with minimal risk.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship and influence architectural standards across teams.
- Deliver scalable infrastructure and reusable tooling aligned with strategic roadmaps.
Benefits
- Medical, vision, and dental coverage.
- 401(k).
- Stock purchase plan.
- Company-paid life insurance.
- Paid time off, including sick leave, and PTO and/or PPTO usable for vacation, sick leave, holidays, or other purposes.
- Parental leave, family care leave, bereavement leave, jury duty leave, and voting leave.
- Short-term and long-term disability.
- Company discounts.
- Military Leave Pay.
- Adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement.
- Performance-based bonus awards, including annual or quarterly performance bonuses.
- Stock may be included as additional compensation for certain positions.
- Live Better U education benefit, including tuition, books, and fees for eligible programs, subject to eligibility requirements.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
