Staff, Data Scientist

Walmart•Bentonville, AR

1d•$110,000 - $220,000•Hybrid

About The Position

We are looking for a Staff Data Scientist to join Sam’s Club fraud detection team. As a Staff Data Scientist, you will be responsible for owning fraud risks in various product segments and being a strategic partner to product & business teams. You will be tasked to set goals, create strategy, and closely collaborate with product managers, engineers and business stakeholders. You’ll be responsible for detecting changed fraud trends, building and implementing ML models with high-dimensional, fast moving real time dataset and driving innovation in detecting & preventing fraud across various channels. You will also help shape the next generation of fraud intelligence by leveraging Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), network-based modeling, and Generative AI (GenAI) techniques to enhance detection accuracy, accelerate investigations, and improve model explainability and decision intelligence. Sam Walton opened the first Sam's Club in 1983 to meet a growing need among customers who wanted to buy merchandise in bulk. Since then, Sam's Club has grown rapidly, opening more than 600 clubs in the U.S. and 100 clubs internationally. By offering affordable, wholesale merchandise to members, Sam's Club helps make saving simple for families and small business owners. Sam's Club employs about 110,000 associates in the U.S. The average club is 134,000 square feet and offers bulk groceries and general merchandise. Most clubs also have specialty services, such as a pharmacy, an optical department, a photo center, or a tire and battery center.

Requirements

Industry experience in building production machine learning systems at scale.
Experienced with languages used to manipulate data and draw insights from large data sets (e.g. Python, SQL, etc.)
Experience working with large data sets and distributed computing tools (PySpark/GCP/BigQuery).
Hands-on experience or strong familiarity with Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), graph embeddings, or large-scale graph processing frameworks.
Experience exploring or applying Generative AI / LLM-based approaches for decision intelligence, feature generation, workflow automation, or explainability.
Experience in working with cross-functional product and engineering teams to understand requirements and incorporate them in the roadmap.
Option 1: Bachelors degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 4 years' experience in an analytics related field.
Option 2: Masters degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 2 years' experience in an analytics related field.
Option 3: 6 years' experience in an analytics or related field.

Nice To Haves

Experience in fraud risk solutions is desirable
Data science, machine learning, optimization models
PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Information Technology, Operations Research, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Econometrics
Successful completion of one or more assessments in Python, Spark, Scala, or R
Using open source frameworks (for example, scikit learn, tensorflow, torch)
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 to create accessible products and services following Walmart’s accessibility standards and guidelines for supporting an inclusive culture

Responsibilities

Use machine learning to develop models for fraud detection in areas such as E-Commerce & In-club payment fraud, Return abuse, Account takeover (ATO) etc.
Design and implement graph-based fraud detection systems, including link analysis, entity resolution, and Graph Neural Network (GNN) models to detect coordinated fraud rings and network-level risk signals.
Leverage Generative AI techniques (e.g., LLMs and Agentic workflows) to enhance fraud detection, automate investigation workflows, generate risk narratives, and improve model explainability.
Partnering with business and technical stakeholders to translate fraud business problems into data science solutions.
Work on highly-scalable ML models and algorithms in big data mining, graph modeling & other domains.
Work with engineering teams to implement model pipeline and deploy the service at scale.
Swiftly respond to system issues and deep dive into root cause analysis

Benefits

Incentive awards for your performance
401(k) match
Stock purchase plan
Paid maternity and parental leave
PTO
Multiple health plans (medical, vision and dental coverage)
Performance-based bonus awards
Company-paid life insurance
Family care leave
Bereavement
Jury duty
Voting
PPTO (can be used for vacation, sick leave, holidays, or other purposes)
Short-term and long-term disability
Company discounts
Military Leave Pay
Adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement
Live Better U (company paid education benefit program for full-time and part-time associates in Walmart and Sam's Club facilities, covering high school completion to bachelor's degrees, English Language Learning and short-form certificates, including tuition, books, and fees)