(USA) Principal, Software Engineer
About The Position
The Principal Software Engineer leads complex, large-scale platform engineering projects, translating requirements into technical solutions and overseeing design, development, and testing. This hands-on technical leadership role directs cross-functional engineering efforts, supports timely delivery and high-quality outcomes, drives root-cause analysis and continuous improvement, and works with business partners to shape priorities and communicate across stakeholders. The role also helps shape how AI is incorporated into products and platforms and used to increase engineering effectiveness. The team develops and scales core platform services for high-traffic business systems. It builds cloud-based microservices using technologies such as Java/Spring Boot, NoSQL databases, Kafka, Azure, and GCP, and manages the full software lifecycle with a focus on reliability and performance. Its services support customer transactions including cart building, discounts, and checkout, and the team is advancing the platform through AI integration. The role leads delivery of scalable infrastructure, reusable tooling, and cloud-native architectures; drives software development lifecycle activities across teams; and architects AI-enhanced applications and intelligent systems. It provides technical leadership and mentorship, translates business needs into technical requirements and measurable outcomes, maintains architectural documentation, and promotes continuous improvement. Work includes building AI-powered capabilities such as LLM-driven automation, agentic workflows, and anomaly detection with appropriate guardrails.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or a related area and 5 years of experience in software engineering or a related area; or 7 years of experience in software engineering or a related area.
- Extensive experience in platform engineering leadership, delivering scalable cloud-native architectures and reusable tooling.
- Expertise in software development lifecycle management, including CI/CD, testing, observability, and incident response.
- Proficiency in AI/ML integration and building intelligent software systems using languages such as Python, Java, and C++.
- Ability to apply model-driven design and technical solution design to complex distributed systems.
- Strong problem-solving skills focused on innovation and continuous improvement.
- Mentorship and leadership capabilities to guide engineering teams and influence architectural decisions.
- Experience with MCP or similar patterns for connecting AI agents to enterprise systems and tools.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or a related area and 3 years of experience in software engineering or a related area.
- Knowledge of creating inclusive digital experiences and implementing WCAG 2.2 AA standards, assistive technologies, and accessible digital products and services.
Responsibilities
- Lead platform engineering efforts by delivering scalable infrastructure, reusable tooling, and cloud-native architectures aligned with strategic roadmaps.
- Drive software development lifecycle activities—including design, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance—across multiple teams.
- Architect and implement AI-enhanced applications and intelligent systems supporting millions of users.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineering teams, promoting best practices and innovation.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business needs into actionable technical requirements and measurable outcomes.
- Maintain architectural documentation to support transparency and alignment.
- Integrate new technologies and optimize processes to foster continuous improvement.
- Build AI-powered capabilities, such as LLM-driven automation, agentic workflows, and anomaly detection with appropriate guardrails.
- Drive root-cause analysis and continuous improvement.
- Shape how AI is used in products and platforms and as a force multiplier for engineering design, development, testing, and operations.
Benefits
- Medical, vision, and dental coverage.
- 401(k).
- Stock purchase plan.
- Company-paid life insurance.
- Paid time off, including sick leave.
- 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.
- PTO and/or PPTO for vacation, sick leave, holidays, or other purposes.
- Walmart-paid Live Better U education program, including tuition, books, and fees for eligible programs.
- Annual or quarterly performance bonuses.
- Stock may be included as additional compensation for certain positions.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
