Distinguished, Software Engineer

Walmart • Sunnyvale, CA

1d • $169,000 - $338,000 • Onsite

About The Position

This role involves System-Level Technical Leadership, owning the execution for specific services, platforms, or pipelines within a larger domain, delivering with architectural integrity and reliability. It requires translating domain-level strategy into system-level implementation, facilitating alignment across engineering teams and platform stakeholders. The role drives operational excellence and execution quality through technical guidance, code reviews, and strategic architectural decisions. The engineer will architect and build scalable AI-powered systems, leading the design and development of robust, modular, cloud-native software systems and AI agents. This includes integrating external and internal AI/ML components for intelligent automation and user-facing experiences, and guiding architecture choices that prioritize extensibility, maintainability, and alignment with enterprise standards and security requirements. The position also involves owning the full software development lifecycle, championing DevOps and CI/CD principles, ensuring services are observable, resilient, and performant, and leading incident analysis and prevention strategies. Furthermore, the role fosters a culture of excellence and mentorship by coaching and developing engineers, advocating for high standards, and promoting Walmart's cultural values. It also focuses on optimizing systems and driving continuous improvement by identifying and addressing architectural bottlenecks, automating manual processes, and improving system developer experience. The role demonstrates responsibility for deliverables, ensuring solutions meet quality standards and business objectives, and takes initiative to resolve issues and drive projects to completion. It requires applying sound reasoning to make informed technical decisions, balancing trade-offs, and considering long-term impacts. The engineer must adapt quickly to change, embrace new technologies, understand the broader system context, and anticipate downstream effects. Collaboration across teams, knowledge sharing, and clear communication are essential. Proactively seeking opportunities to enhance processes, tools, and products, encouraging experimentation, and learning are also key. The role provides overall direction by analyzing business objectives and customer needs, developing and implementing strategies, analyzing costs, determining resource requirements, evaluating operational processes, measuring outcomes, and identifying improvement opportunities. It also involves developing and implementing strategies to attract and maintain a highly skilled and engaged workforce, cultivating an environment of respect, integrity, and ethics, and developing and leveraging internal and external partnerships. Key areas of focus include Software Development, Continuous Integration, and Cloud-Native Computing. The role emphasizes respecting the individual by building high-performing teams, embracing differences, creating a culture of belonging, and driving positive associate and customer experiences. It also focuses on developing talent through feedback, coaching, and mentoring, building the talent pipeline, and empowering associates. Strong, trusting relationships, collaboration, and effective communication are vital. Acting with integrity involves maintaining high standards of ethics and compliance, modeling Walmart values, and supporting the company's goal of becoming a regenerative company. It also includes ensuring teams follow laws and policies, promoting an environment for sharing concerns, and holding oneself and teams accountable. Servant leadership, humility, and self-awareness are important. Serving customers and members involves delivering expected business results while putting the customer first and acting with an Every Day Low-Cost mindset. It also requires adopting a holistic perspective when making plans and implementing strategies. Striving for excellence involves consistently raising the bar, demonstrating curiosity and a growth mindset, seeking feedback, fostering learning and innovation, and exhibiting resilience. It also includes driving continuous improvements, supervising the adoption of new technology, and supporting digital disruption.

Requirements

• Option 1: Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or related area and 6 years’ experience in software engineering or related area.
• Option 2: 8 years’ experience in software engineering or related area.
• Software Development
• Continuous Integration
• Cloud-Native Computing

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or related area and 4 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 join us as we continue to create accessible products and services following Walmart’s accessibility standards and guidelines for supporting an inclusive culture.

Responsibilities

• Owns the execution for specific services, platforms, or pipelines within a larger domain, delivering with architectural integrity and reliability.
• Translates the domain-level strategy into system-level implementation, facilitating alignment across engineering teams and platform stakeholders.
• Drives operational excellence and execution quality through technical guidance, code reviews, and strategic architectural decisions.
• Leads the design and development of robust, modular, cloud-native software systems and AI agents.
• Integrates external and internal AI/ML components (for example, reinforcement learning models, goal-oriented agents) for intelligent automation and user-facing experiences.
• Guides architecture choices that prioritize extensibility, maintainability, and alignment with enterprise standards and security requirements.
• Champions DevOps and CI/CD principles across teams, ensuring consistent delivery and operational readiness.
• Ensures services are observable, resilient, and performant with proper instrumentation, logging, and alerting.
• Leads incident analysis and prevention strategies to drive long-term quality and customer impact mitigation.
• Coaches and develops engineers across multiple teams, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous learning.
• Advocates for high standards in design, testing, and delivery practices and mentors engineers on component-level impacts and system-wide goals.
• Promotes and models Walmart's cultural values of respect, integrity, service, and excellence.
• Identifies and addresses architectural bottlenecks, integration challenges, or scaling limitations across systems.
• Champions friction/toil reduction by automating manual processes and improving system developer experience.
• Continuously evaluates and proposes improvements in tools, processes, and methodologies to increase engineering velocity and reduce overhead.
• Demonstrates responsibility for deliverables, ensuring solutions meet quality standards and business objectives.
• Takes initiative to resolve issues and drive projects to completion.
• Applies sound reasoning to make informed technical decisions, balancing trade-offs and considering long-term impacts on system architecture and business goals.
• Adapts quickly to change, embraces new technologies, and understands the broader system context.
• Anticipates the downstream effects of technical choices and integrates feedback to improve outcomes.
• Works effectively across teams, openly shares knowledge, and communicates complex ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proactively seeks opportunities to enhance processes, tools, and products.
• Encourages experimentation and learning to drive ongoing improvement.
• Provides overall direction by analyzing business objectives and customer needs; developing, communicating, building support for, and implementing business strategies, plans, and practices; analyzing costs and forecasts and incorporating them into business plans; determining and supporting resource requirements; evaluating operational processes; measuring outcomes to ensure desired results; identifying and capitalizing on improvement opportunities; promoting a customer environment; and demonstrating adaptability and sponsoring continuous learning.
• Develops and implements strategies to attract and maintain a highly skilled and engaged workforce by diagnosing capability gaps; recruiting, selecting, and developing talent; supporting mentorship, workforce development, and succession planning; and leveraging the capabilities of new and existing talent.
• Cultivates an environment where associates respect and adhere to company standards of integrity and ethics by integrating these values into all programs and practices; developing consequences for violations or non-compliance; and supporting the Open Door Policy.
• Develops and leverages internal and external partnerships and networks to maximize the achievement of business goals by sponsoring and leading key community outreach and involvement initiatives; engaging key stakeholders in the development, execution, and evaluation of appropriate business plans and initiatives; and supporting associate efforts in these areas.
• Builds high-performing teams; seeks, and embraces differences in people, cultures, ideas and experiences; creates a workplace where all associates feel seen, supported and connected through culture of belonging so associates thrive and perform; drives a positive associate and customer/member experience for all.
• Creates a discipline and focus around developing talent through feedback, coaching, mentoring, and developmental opportunities; builds the talent pipeline, fosters an environment allowing everyone to bring their best selves to work, empowers associates and partners to act in the best interest of the customer and company, and regularly recognizes others’ contributions and accomplishments; supports strategies and drives initiatives that attract and retain the best talent.
• Builds strong and trusting relationships with team members and business partners; works collaboratively and cross-functionally to achieve objectives; and communicates and listens attentively, with energy and positivity to motivate, influence, and inspire commitment and action.
• Maintains and promotes the highest standards of integrity, ethics and compliance; models the Walmart values and leads by example to foster our culture; supports Walmart’s goal of becoming a regenerative company by taking action to advance opportunity, sustainability, community, and integrity (e.g., creating fair opportunities for associates and suppliers, driving local giving efforts).
• Ensures that teams follow the law, our code of conduct and company policies; promotes an environment where associates feel comfortable sharing concerns and models our culture of non-retaliation; listens to concerns raised by associates and takes action and enables others to do the same; holds self and teams accountable for achieving results in a way that is consistent with our values.
• Acts as an altruistic servant leader and is consistently humble, self-aware.
• Delivers expected business results while putting the customer/member first and consistently applying an omni-merchant mindset and acting with an Every Day Low-Cost mindset to drive value and Every Day Low Prices for customers/members.
• Adopts a holistic perspective that considers data, analytics, customer/member insights, and different parts of the business when making plans and implementing strategies.
• Consistently raises the bar and seeks to improve; demonstrates curiosity and a growth mindset; seeks feedback, asks thoughtful questions, and fosters an environment that supports learning, innovation, learning from mistakes, and intelligent risk-taking; and exhibits resilience in the face of setbacks.
• Drives continuous improvements, supervises the adoption of new technology, and supports digital disruption in line with Walmart’s business model.

Benefits

• Competitive pay
• Performance-based bonus awards
• Medical, vision and 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 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.
• 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