(USA) Staff, Data Scientist

Walmart • Sunnyvale, CA

9h • $143,000 - $286,000

About The Position

The Staff Data Scientist provides technical leadership for large-scale Search and Personalization initiatives, guiding the design and deployment of advanced AI solutions across multiple products. The role influences technical strategy, mentors senior scientists, and partners with engineering and product organizations to deliver scalable machine learning systems that improve customer discovery and business outcomes.

The Applied AI Search & Personalization team builds scalable AI systems to help customers find products. It develops retrieval, ranking, recommendation, and personalization models, including Generative AI capabilities, and applies predictive analytics, machine learning, data strategy, and data visualization to support business goals and customer engagement.

The position leads the architecture and technical direction of Search and Personalization systems; drives adoption of Generative AI, large language models, embeddings, and semantic search; and leads cross-functional initiatives. It also establishes experimentation practices, mentors senior scientists, influences long-term AI strategy, and drives measurable improvements in customer engagement, search relevance, and business metrics.

The annual salary range is $143,000 to $286,000. Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses; certain positions may also include stock. The primary location is 815 Eleventh Ave, Sunnyvale, California.

Requirements

• Extensive experience building production AI/ML systems at scale.
• Deep expertise in Search, Information Retrieval, Recommendation Systems, Personalization, or Ranking.
• Experience with transformer models, embeddings, vector search, LLMs, or Generative AI applications.
• Strong understanding of ML system architecture, MLOps, and distributed model deployment.
• Expertise in experimentation, causal inference, and performance evaluation.
• Excellent technical leadership and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven ability to influence architecture and mentor technical teams across organizations.
• One of the following minimum qualifications: bachelor's degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field and 4 years of experience in an analytics-related field; master's degree in one of those fields or a related field and 2 years of experience in an analytics-related field; or 6 years of experience in an analytics or related field.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in data science, machine learning, or optimization models.
• Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Information Technology, Operations Research, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or Econometrics.
• Successful completion of one or more assessments in Python, Spark, Scala, or R.
• Experience using open-source frameworks such as scikit-learn, TensorFlow, or Torch.
• Background creating inclusive digital experiences, including knowledge of WCAG 2.2 AA standards, assistive technologies, and digital accessibility best practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and technical direction for Search and Personalization machine learning systems.
• Design scalable retrieval, ranking, recommendation, and personalization algorithms.
• Drive adoption of Generative AI, large language models, embeddings, and semantic search capabilities.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives involving Product, Engineering, Platform, and Data Science teams.
• Establish experimentation frameworks and best practices for model development and evaluation.
• Mentor senior scientists and review technical designs across multiple initiatives.
• Influence long-term AI strategy and technology investments.
• Drive measurable improvements in customer engagement, search relevance, and business metrics.

Benefits

• Medical, vision, and dental coverage.
• 401(k), stock purchase, and company-paid life insurance.
• Paid time off, including sick leave, parental leave, family care leave, bereavement leave, jury duty, and voting leave.
• Short-term and long-term disability.
• Company discounts.
• Military Leave Pay.
• Adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement.
• Live Better U education benefit, with tuition, books, and fees paid for eligible programs, subject to eligibility requirements.
• Annual or quarterly performance bonuses; stock may be included for certain positions.

What This Job Offers

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