Senior Director, Data Science & Ontology

Walmart•Bentonville, AR

13d•$160,000 - $320,000•Onsite

About The Position

At Walmart, data and AI shape decisions that improve experiences for millions of customers, members, and associates. The Senior Director, Data Science & Ontology will define and scale Walmart’s semantic intelligence strategy, bringing together data science, ontology, taxonomy, knowledge graphs, machine learning, and responsible AI to make Walmart’s data more connected, discoverable, trusted, and actionable. This leader will set the multi-year vision for ontology-driven data products and AI capabilities, lead high-performing teams, and partner with product, engineering, merchandising, search, catalog, operations, governance, and executive stakeholders to deliver measurable business impact at enterprise scale.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, applied AI, ontology, knowledge graphs, search, recommendations, data platforms, or related technical domains.
6+ years of people leadership experience, including leading managers, senior technical talent, or multi-disciplinary data science and AI teams.
Proven success defining strategy and delivering enterprise-scale data science, AI, semantic data, ontology, taxonomy, or knowledge graph capabilities in production.
Deep understanding of ontology design, taxonomy governance, semantic modeling, metadata, data quality, entity resolution, and data governance.
Strong applied AI and machine learning foundation, including experience with NLP, embeddings, classification, ranking, recommendation systems, experimentation, model evaluation, and production model monitoring.
Experience partnering with product, engineering, business, governance, and executive stakeholders to turn ambiguous business problems into scalable technical solutions.
Demonstrated ability to communicate technical strategy, tradeoffs, risks, and business impact to senior executives.
Track record of building inclusive, high-performing teams and developing future leaders.
Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 7 years' experience in an analytics related field.
Master’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 5 years' experience in an analytics related field.
9 years' experience in an analytics or related field.
3 years' supervisory experience.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Information Science, Computational Linguistics, AI, Machine Learning, or a related field.
Experience in retail, e-commerce, marketplace, product catalog, search, personalization, merchandising, supply chain, advertising, or large-scale consumer technology.
Experience with knowledge graph technologies and standards such as RDF, OWL, SHACL, SPARQL, graph databases, schema design, semantic layers, or enterprise metadata platforms.
Experience applying generative AI, LLMs, RAG, vector search, agentic workflows, or embeddings to enterprise data, product data, or knowledge systems.
Experience with large-scale data ecosystems such as Spark, Python, SQL, cloud platforms, distributed data systems, MLOps platforms, and model governance tools.
Strong record of responsible AI implementation, including fairness, transparency, explainability, privacy, compliance, monitoring, and risk management.
Data science, machine learning, optimization models, PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Information Technology, Operations Research, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Econometrics.
Successful completion of one or more assessments in Python, Spark, Scala, or R.
Supervisory experience.
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

Lead Enterprise Data Science and Ontology Strategy: Define and execute a multi-year strategy for ontology, taxonomy, knowledge graph, semantic search, metadata, and AI-enabled data products. Translate Walmart’s business priorities into scalable semantic data capabilities that improve customer experiences, associate productivity, operational efficiency, and decision quality.
Build Scalable Semantic and AI Systems: Lead the development of ontology-driven systems that connect structured and unstructured data across complex business domains. Guide teams building capabilities such as entity resolution, classification, product and content enrichment, semantic search, recommendation relevance, knowledge graphs, embeddings, LLM-enabled workflows, RAG, and intelligent data discovery.
Own Data Quality, Governance, and Responsible AI: Establish standards for ontology design, taxonomy governance, metadata quality, lineage, stewardship, measurement, and model governance. Ensure data science and AI systems are explainable, reliable, monitored, auditable, and aligned with Walmart’s standards for integrity, privacy, compliance, and responsible technology use.
Drive Business Impact and Executive Alignment: Partner with senior leaders across product, engineering, merchandising, operations, customer experience, and business teams to identify high-value opportunities, define success metrics, build business cases, and deliver measurable ROI. Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to executive, technical, and non-technical audiences.
Lead the End-to-End Data Science Lifecycle: Oversee problem formulation, exploratory analysis, feature strategy, ontology design, model development, experimentation, validation, deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement. Ensure teams use appropriate statistical, machine learning, optimization, and AI techniques to solve high-scale business problems.
Scale Teams, Talent, and Operating Models: Build, lead, and develop a world-class team of data scientists, ontology specialists, applied scientists, machine learning practitioners, data strategists, and technical leaders. Create a high-performance culture through hiring, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, capability building, and clear accountability.
Champion Innovation at Walmart Scale: Stay current with emerging practices in data science, ontology engineering, generative AI, knowledge graphs, MLOps, semantic data platforms, and responsible AI. Identify where new technologies can create competitive advantage, while ensuring practical adoption, measurable impact, and operational excellence.

Benefits

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
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.