Senior Manager, Software Engineering

Walmart • Sunnyvale, CA

3d • Onsite

About The Position

Walmart Advertising Technology (Ad Tech) connects the world’s largest retail ecosystem with supplier brands and shoppers at unprecedented scale. Our high‑performance ad servers process billions of requests each month, while our data platforms model, analyze, and optimize omnichannel behavior drawn from both e‑commerce and 4,700+ stores. The Advertising Business Systems (ABS) engineering group owns the next‑generation omni‑advertising platform—driving automation, transparency, and measurable value for advertisers worldwide. Lead & Inspire – Manage and grow a team of staff‑level and senior engineers; set clear goals, provide continuous feedback, and cultivate a high‑performance, inclusive culture. Architect at Scale – Define and evolve the end‑to‑end ABS architecture (including Global ABS for the Global Ad‑Serving initiative) to handle millions of requests per minute with sub‑100 ms latency. Drive Delivery – Translate product vision into executable roadmaps; own prioritization, scoping, and execution of complex, cross‑functional programs spanning data, serving, and ML pipelines. Hands‑On Engineering – Stay close to the code. Conduct design and code reviews, build critical prototypes, and tackle the hardest technical challenges alongside your team. Operational Excellence – Champion SLAs, observability, fault‑tolerance, and cost efficiency. Establish rigorous CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and on‑call best practices to reach five‑nines availability. AI/ML Enablement – Partner with data scientists to productionize models for demand forecasting, media‑mix optimization, and workflow automation; guide feature‑engineering standards and model‑serving strategies. Strategic Alignment – Influence data‑model convergence, contract definitions, and data‑pull mechanisms across Retail, Fulfillment, Finance, and Ads engineering teams. Industry Awareness – Monitor Ad Tech trends (privacy regulations, clean rooms, identity, measurement) and factor them into technical roadmaps and build‑vs‑buy decisions. Mentor & Evangelize – Share best practices through brown‑bags, RFCs, and open‑source contributions; nurture the next generation of Walmart engineering leaders.

Requirements

• 15+ years in software engineering with at least 5 years managing high‑performing teams that build distributed, low‑latency systems.
• Proven ownership of petabyte‑scale data platforms or ad‑serving infrastructures (Spark/Flink/Beam, Kafka, Druid/ClickHouse, KV stores, large caches).
• Expert‑level coding skills in Java, Scala, or Kotlin plus solid full‑stack fundamentals (REST/gRPC, React/TypeScript a bonus).
• Deep knowledge of the Hadoop ecosystem (HDFS, Hive, Presto, MapReduce) and real‑time compute / streaming architectures.
• Hands‑on experience deploying ML models (TensorFlow, PyTorch, or other) into production, including feature stores and online inference.
• Advanced understanding of software design patterns, distributed‑system theory, CAP trade‑offs, and performance tuning.
• Cloud fluency in GCP, Azure, or AWS and modern infrastructure tooling (Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, GitOps).
• Track record of operating in agile environments and shipping via CI/CD.
• Outstanding communication, stakeholder‑management, and cross‑team negotiation skills.
• 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.
• 7 years’ experience in software engineering or related area.
• 2 years’ supervisory experience.

Nice To Haves

• Domain expertise in programmatic Ad Tech (DSP/SSP, OpenRTB, header‑bidding, attribution, brand‑safety).
• Experience with financial / billing systems, revenue reconciliation, or large‑scale SaaS integrations.
• Participation in industry standards bodies (IAB Tech Lab, W3C) or notable OSS contributions.
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
• 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.
• 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

• Manage and grow a team of staff‑level and senior engineers; set clear goals, provide continuous feedback, and cultivate a high‑performance, inclusive culture.
• Define and evolve the end‑to‑end ABS architecture (including Global ABS for the Global Ad‑Serving initiative) to handle millions of requests per minute with sub‑100 ms latency.
• Translate product vision into executable roadmaps; own prioritization, scoping, and execution of complex, cross‑functional programs spanning data, serving, and ML pipelines.
• Conduct design and code reviews, build critical prototypes, and tackle the hardest technical challenges alongside your team.
• Champion SLAs, observability, fault‑tolerance, and cost efficiency. Establish rigorous CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and on‑call best practices to reach five‑nines availability.
• Partner with data scientists to productionize models for demand forecasting, media‑mix optimization, and workflow automation; guide feature‑engineering standards and model‑serving strategies.
• Influence data‑model convergence, contract definitions, and data‑pull mechanisms across Retail, Fulfillment, Finance, and Ads engineering teams.
• Monitor Ad Tech trends (privacy regulations, clean rooms, identity, measurement) and factor them into technical roadmaps and build‑vs‑buy decisions.
• Share best practices through brown‑bags, RFCs, and open‑source contributions; nurture the next generation of Walmart engineering leaders.

Benefits

• At Walmart, we offer competitive pay as well as performance-based bonus awards and other great benefits for a happier mind, body, and wallet.
• Health benefits include medical, vision and dental coverage.
• Financial benefits include 401(k), stock purchase and company-paid life insurance.
• Paid time off benefits include PTO (including sick leave), parental leave, family care leave, bereavement, jury duty, and voting.
• Other benefits include short-term and long-term disability, company discounts, Military Leave Pay, adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, and more.
• You will also receive 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: Senior