Senior, Software Engineer - AI Systems

Walmart • Bentonville, AR

1d • Onsite

About The Position

We’re seeking a Software Engineer to design and build AI-first systems with a focus on agentic AI, high performance data/compute frameworks, and scalable, production-grade services. You’ll work across model-driven features and platform layers—integrating LLMs/agents, orchestrating pipelines with Ray, accelerating data science workloads with RAPIDS, and delivering robust APIs and services that power high-impact AI applications at scale. The ideal candidate blends strong software engineering fundamentals with practical ML systems exposure and a passion for performance, reliability, and developer experience.

Requirements

• Bachelor's/Master's in CS, Engineering, or equivalent industry experience.
• 4+ years building production backend or platform services (preferably in AI/ML contexts).
• Proficiency in: Languages: Python (primary), plus one of Go/Java/C++ for performance services.
• Proficiency in: Distributed frameworks: Ray, Spark, or Dask.
• Proficiency in: Accelerated compute: RAPIDS (cuDF/cuML/cuGraph) and GPU-aware programming concepts (streams, memory).
• Proficiency in: Service frameworks: FastAPI/Flask (Python), K8s (Kubernetes) and containerization (Docker).
• Strong foundations in data structures/algorithms, concurrency, networking, and systems design.
• Option 1: Bachelor'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.
• Option 2: 5 years’ experience in software engineering or related area.

Nice To Haves

• Production experience with agent frameworks (e.g., LangGraph-style planners, tool-use patterns, retrieval and memory components).
• Experience with vector databases (e.g., FAISS, Milvus, pgvector, Pinecone) and feature stores.
• Familiarity with LLM and embedding services, prompt/tooling patterns, and evaluation harnesses.
• Hands-on with Kubernetes, autoscaling (HPA/KEDA), and GPU scheduling/operators.
• Performance profiling: PyTorch profiler, Nsight, line-profiler, Ray dashboard.
• Experience with vLLM, Triton Inference Server, ONNX Runtime, or TensorRT for high‑throughput inference.
• Pragmatic problem solver with a bias for measurable outcomes (latency, throughput, reliability).
• Excellent communicator able to translate between research goals and production constraints.
• Drives clarity in ambiguous problem spaces; mentors others and uplifts engineering standards.
• 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.
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Software Engineering, or related area and 1 year's experience in software engineering or related area.

Responsibilities

• Build agentic AI services (planning, tool use, retrieval, feedback loops) and integrate them with internal systems and APIs.
• Implement orchestration, memory, tooling, evaluation, and guardrails for agentic workflows.
• Collaborate with DS/MLE partners to productionize models (LLMs, GNNs, embedding services) behind stable APIs and SDKs.
• Develop GPU‑accelerated pipelines using RAPIDS (cuDF/cuML/cuGraph) and optimize end‑to‑end performance.
• Use Ray (or similar) for distributed compute, batch/stream processing, and scalable workflow orchestration.
• Profile and optimize bottlenecks across CPU/GPU, memory, and I/O layers; implement caching, vectorization, and async patterns.
• Design and maintain reliable microservices for training/inference, vector indexing, and real-time decisioning.
• Implement observability (tracing/metrics/logging), fault tolerance, auto-scaling, and cost-aware execution.
• Create internal SDKs/CLIs to streamline developer workflows, testing, and reproducibility.
• Establish CI/CD for AI services (unit/integration/e2e tests, canaries, blue/green, rollback).
• Integrate with feature stores, vector databases, artifact registries, and model catalogs.
• Enforce security, privacy, and compliance (data minimization, PII handling, governance, auditability).
• Partner with product, platform, and DS/MLE teams to align requirements, SLAs, and success metrics.
• Document systems thoroughly; contribute to design reviews and engineering best practices.
• Mentor peers on AI systems patterns, distributed compute, and performance engineering.

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
• Company-paid life insurance
• Family care leave
• Bereavement
• Jury duty
• Voting leave
• Short-term and 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
• Walmart-paid education benefit program (Live better U) for full-time and part-time associates

What This Job Offers

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