Principal, Data Scientist

About the role

We are looking for a Principal Data Scientist to lead high-impact initiatives within Walmart’s Decision Science organization. This role is centered on building scalable, end-to-end Data Science and AI solutions that improve customer experience, optimize operational and sourcing decisions, and drive measurable business impact across the enterprise.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the Data science roadmap aligned with Decision Science priorities.
• Partner closely with business, product, engineering, and operations teams to identify high-impact opportunities and translate them into scalable ML and AI solutions.
• Influence executive stakeholders through data-driven insights, strategic recommendations, and thought leadership.
• Translate ambiguous business challenges into structured analytical frameworks, measurable success metrics, and actionable roadmaps.
• Drive end-to-end ownership from problem formulation through experimentation, deployment, and post-launch impact measurement.
• Design, develop, and deploy end-to-end ML and data science products, including problem framing, feature engineering, model development, experimentation, deployment, and measurement on business metrics.
• Develop and deploy production-grade GenAI solutions using modern LLMs and agent orchestration frameworks, including prompt engineering, tool integration, skills and retrieval-based workflows, to improve business insights, automate operational workflows, and enhance decision-making.
• Define and track meaningful success metrics aligned with customer experience and operational goals.
• Develop scalable pipelines and production-ready solutions in partnership with engineering teams.
• Ensure model quality, explainability, monitoring, and operational excellence.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Operations Research, Data Science, or a related quantitative field.
• 10+ years of experience in Data Science, Machine Learning, Advanced Analytics, or related disciplines, with a proven track record of leading large-scale, high-impact initiatives.
• Strong expertise in statistical modeling, machine learning, experimentation, causal inference, and data science methodologies.
• Experience building and deploying scalable machine learning solutions and AI-powered applications in production environments.
• Hands-on experience developing GenAI solutions using Large Language Models (LLMs), prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), Skills, vector databases, and agentic workflows.
• Experience with cloud AI/ML platforms and modern AI tooling ecosystems, preferably on GCP or Azure.
• Experience with distributed data processing frameworks such as Spark and large-scale data platforms.
• Experience with MLOps and LLMOps practices, including feature stores, model monitoring, evaluation frameworks, and production ML systems.
• Experience working in large-scale enterprise environments, preferably in retail, eCommerce, marketplace, supply chain, consumer technology, fintech, or other data-intensive industries.
• Strong communication, storytelling, and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to influence executive-level decision-making.
• Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous business problems into scalable data science and AI solutions that drive measurable business outcomes.

Benefits

At Walmart, we offer competitive pay as well as performance-based bonus awards and other great benefits for a happier mind, body, and wallet. Health benefits include medical, vision and dental coverage. Financial benefits include 401(k), stock purchase and company-paid life insurance. Paid time off benefits include PTO (including sick leave), parental leave, family care leave, bereavement, jury duty, and voting. Other benefits include short-term and long-term disability, company discounts, Military Leave Pay, adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, and more. You will also receive PTO and/or PPTO that can be used for vacation, sick leave, holidays, or other purposes. The amount you receive depends on your job classification and length of employment. It will meet or exceed the requirements of paid sick leave laws, where applicable. For information about PTO, see here. 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. Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to a specific plan or program terms. For Information About Benefits And Eligibility, See One.Walmart. The annual salary range for this position is $110,000.00 - $220,000.00 Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses. Additional compensation for certain positions may also include : Stock