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# (USA) Principal, Data Scientist

- **Company:** Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
- **Location:** Sunnyvale, CA, United States
- **Experience:** Experienced
- **Salary:** $143,000.0 - $286,000.0
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Adobe Analytics, A/B Testing, Web Accessibility, Artificial Intelligence, Data Analysis, Application Frameworks, Information Retrieval, Python (Programming Language), Machine Learning, Recommender Systems, Tensorflow, Scala (Programming Language), Search Technologies, Software Deployment, User-Centered Design, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Feature Engineering, Pytorch, Large Language Models, Apache Spark, Deep Learning, Generative AI, Scikit Learn, Information Technology, Machine Learning Operations, GPT
- **Published:** September 19, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.disabledperson.com/jobs/75301602-usa-principal-data-scientist

## About the Role

* Proven track record in Search, Information Retrieval, Ranking, Recommendations, or Personalization at production scale.
 * Hands-on experience with PyTorch and Transformer architectures for relevance modeling, semantic search, or multi-task learning.
 * Practical experience applying Generative AI to real products, including RAG, instruction fine-tuning, or RLHF.
 * Strong engineering skills in Python and Scala, with experience building large-scale Spark-based ML pipelines.
 * Solid command of experimentation: causal inference, A/B testing, interleaving, and offline/online metric alignment.
 * Experience operationalizing ML systems at scale, including model serving, drift monitoring, and continuous training.
 * Excellent communication skills and ability to lead multi-quarter technical initiatives across cross-functional teams., Outlined below are the required minimum qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no minimum qualifications.

Option 1: Bachelors degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 5 years' experience in an analytics related field. Option 2: Masters degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 3 years' experience in an analytics related field. Option 3: 7 years' experience in an analytics or related field

Preferred Qualifications...

Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.

Data science, machine learning, optimization models, PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Information Technology, Operations Research, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Econometrics, Publications or active peer reviewer in related journals or conference, Successful completion of one or more assessments in Python, Spark, Scala, or R, Using open source frameworks (for example, scikit learn, tensorflow, torch), 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.

## Description

Role summary: The Principal Data Scientist will lead the design, development, and deployment of AI-powered Search and Personalization systems serving hundreds of millions of customers across Walmart's global eCommerce platforms. This role demands deep expertise in information retrieval, ranking, recommendation systems, and Generative AI applied at production scale. You will define technical strategy, shape ML architecture, and partner with Product and Engineering to turn ambiguous discovery problems into measurable customer and business outcomes, while mentoring a team of senior scientists raising the bar across the discipline. About the team: Walmart's Search & Personalization team shapes how hundreds of millions of customers discover products every day. We sit at the intersection of AI research and global-scale systems, owning query understanding, retrieval, ranking, recommendations, and real-time personalization end to end. We work closely with Ads and Sparky, Walmart's AI shopping
assistant, building the science that powers discovery across the full customer journey. What you'll do:

 * Own end-to-end design and delivery of ML systems for Search ranking, query understanding, retrieval, recommendations, and real-time personalization.
 * Build and productionize deep learning and Transformer-based models for relevance, intent classification, and semantic matching.
 * Apply Generative AI and LLMs, including RAG and fine-tuning, to improve query understanding and product discovery.
 * Design large-scale feature engineering and training pipelines handling petabyte-scale catalog and behavioral signals.
 * Define experimentation strategies, offline evaluation frameworks, and online/offline metric alignment for Search and P13n systems.
 * Drive technical architecture decisions and influence the long-term AI roadmap.
 * Mentor senior scientists and establish team standards for model development and production deployment.


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