Distinguished Software Engineer

Multiple locations Regular/ Permanent Salaried
Position Summary...
As a Distinguished Engineer in the AI & Data organization, you will serve as a senior individual contributor and technical leader responsible for shaping the long-term technical vision, architecture, and engineering excellence of our enterprise-scale AI/ML systems and platforms. You will work across teams to influence complex technical decisions, embed responsible AI foundations, and deliver scalable, resilient solutions that empower builders across Walmart. This role goes beyond hands-on engineering; it is about driving technical strategy, architecting for scale, and mentoring technical leaders to elevate engineering standards across the organization.

What You'll Do...
Technical Vision & Architecture

• Define and drive the technical vision for AI/ML platforms and ecosystems that operate at enterprise scale.
• Lead architecture reviews and design principles across GenAI integrations, model serving, and intelligent pipelines.
• Establish architectural standards for reliability, security, scalability, and performance aligned with enterprise requirements.
• Translate complex business needs into high-impact, long-term technical roadmaps.

AI/ML Technical Leadership

• Provide hands-on technical guidance and thought leadership to multi-team engineering and data science groups.
• Influence AI/ML lifecycle practices, including model evaluation, deployment, monitoring, and observability.
• Shape patterns for safe and governed AI adoption across internal platforms.
• Lead cutting-edge prototyping and production strategies for mission-critical AI systems.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with product, business, UX, data science, infrastructure, and governance teams to accelerate value delivery.
• Advocate for engineering best practices and foster alignment across diverse technology domains.
• Influence senior stakeholders, including executives, on technical trade-offs and strategic decisions.

Engineering Excellence & Mentorship

• Elevate engineering excellence by mentoring senior ICs, principal engineers, and emerging technical talent.
• Champion best practices in code quality, system reliability, CI/CD pipelines, and operational maturity.
• Sponsor and drive technical communities of practice to raise standards across AI & Data.

Required Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience building and operating large-scale, distributed software systems.
• Proven track record as a senior individual contributor driving system architecture or technical strategy.
• Deep experience with AI/ML production systems, model serving, orchestration, and performance optimization.
• Experience with observability practices, including structured logging, metrics, traces, and debugging distributed flows across client and gateway environments.
• Strong expertise in scalable, cloud-native design and platform engineering.
• Demonstrated ability to influence engineers and leaders without direct managerial authority.
• Excellent communication and technical storytelling skills, with the ability to articulate complex concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications...

• Experience leading AI/ML systems or platforms in a large enterprise environment.
• Experience with LLM tool-calling or agentic systems (e.g., structured tool invocation, schema validation, prompt/tool design, guardrails).
• Familiarity with schema/contract frameworks (JSON Schema, OpenAPI, Pydantic, protobuf) and backward-compatible tool evolution.
• Knowledge of responsible AI practices and governance frameworks.
• Experience with GenAI, prompt engineering patterns, or large-scale inference infrastructure.
• Proven mentorship and leadership across multiple engineering teams.

Why This Role Matters...
In AI & Data, we empower teams across Walmart to rapidly innovate with AI and data at scale. The Distinguished Engineer will be a technical compass for this effort, shaping how we build, scale, and govern AI systems that serve millions of associates and customers worldwide. Your impact will extend beyond a single product or platform; it will influence Walmart's engineering culture and technological future.

Benefits include competitive pay, performance-based bonus awards, health, financial, and paid time off benefits. For more information, see https://one.walmart.com/notices and One.Walmart.

Minimum Qualifications...
Outlined below are the required minimum qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no minimum qualifications.
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.

Preferred Qualifications...
Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.
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. We value candidates with a 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. The ideal candidate would have 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.

Primary Location...
1300 Se 8Th St, Bentonville, AR 72712, United States of America Walmart and its subsidiaries are committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace and has a no tolerance policy regarding the use of illegal drugs and alcohol on the job. This policy applies to all employees and aims to create a safe and productive work environment.