Principal, Software Engineer

Walmart•Bellevue, WA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Personalization team at Walmart is dedicated to understanding customers better and making it frictionless and faster for them to get what they want while building a trusted partnership with Walmart. We help bring a seamless experience to our customers irrespective of how and where they engage with us – while shopping online or picking groceries at stores. We thrive to provide each customer with a journey tailored to their individual needs, preferences and routines. We operate at the intersection of huge Walmart assortment, millions of customers, thousands of stores and Walmart associates - a multi-layer multi-objective problem space which has a unique impact on Global customer base and powers assisted AI for our associates. The Personalization team consists of big data geeks, application engineers, scientists and product visionaries all working together to design, prototype and build technology-driven products and experiences that will change the future landscape of e-commerce. We are focused on building an intelligent system that will enable 1:1 personalized customer experience, from finding the product to delivering it to the customer. We are building state-of-the-art probabilistic models and engineering marvels to serve our customer needs by leveraging cutting edge machine learning, deep learning, reinforcement learning, natural language processing, entity-relationship extraction and knowledge representation. This will span many markets, business models and form factors; therefore, we are looking for scientists and engineers who will bring not only an abundance of experiences in technologies, but an abundant curiosity to innovate. Our team works closely with our US stores and eCommerce business to better serve customers by empowering team members, stores, and merchants with technological innovation. From groceries and entertainment to sporting goods and crafts, Walmart U.S. offers an extensive selection that our customers value, whether they shop online at Walmart.com, through one of our mobile apps, or in-store. Focus areas include customers, stores and employees, in-store service, merchant tools, merchant data science, and search and personalization.

Requirements

Proven expertise in building and deploying production-grade ML solutions at scale, preferably in e-commerce, search, or recommendation systems.
Hands-on experience with generative AI, including LLMs, RAG systems, and autonomous agent frameworks.
Proficiency in Python and relevant ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow).
Deep understanding of ML engineering principles, including data pipelines, model training, and serving infrastructure.
Familiarity with vector databases, knowledge graphs, and semantic search techniques for efficient memory management and context retrieval.
Proficient with event driven architecture using Kafka.
Advanced knowledge of complex software design, distributed system design, design patterns, data structures and algorithms.
Working knowledge in container and cloud native technologies – Kubernetes, Docker.
Experience with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins and Maven.
Strong expertise with Cloud Technologies like Azure and GCP.
Experience in monitoring production system and using different systems like Grafana, Prometheus.
Strong inclination towards exploring and learning new technologies.
Strong written and oral communication skills.
Experience with all phases of the software development life cycle, best practices, and Agile Software Development.
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.
OR 7 years’ experience in software engineering or related area.

Nice To Haves

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.
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 joining us as we continue to create accessible products and services following Walmart’s accessibility standards and guidelines for supporting an inclusive culture.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and deploy large-scale, production-grade ML systems, including deep learning models, real-time inference services, and end-to-end ML pipelines.
Implement advanced techniques like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to provide agents with a comprehensive understanding of long-term customer history, preferences, and intent, as well as short-term session context.
Champion the use of multimodal data (text, images, user behavior, contextual signals) to power hyper-personalized recommendations, product discovery, and proactive customer engagement.
Participate in medium- to large-scale, complex, cross-functional projects by reviewing project, product and business requirements; translating requirements into technical solutions; gathering requested information (for example, design documents, product requirement); designing robust and scalable architectures; writing and developing code; conducting unit testing; communicating status and issues to team members and stakeholders; collaborating with cross functional teams; troubleshooting open issues and bug-fixes; enhancing design to prevent re-occurrences of defects; ensuring on-time delivery.

Benefits

Competitive pay
Performance-based bonus awards
Medical coverage
Vision coverage
Dental coverage
401(k)
Stock purchase
Company-paid life insurance
PTO (including sick leave)
Parental leave
Family care leave
Bereavement leave
Jury duty leave
Voting leave
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.
Walmart-paid education benefit program (Live Better U) 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.