(USA) Distinguished, Software Engineer

Reference: R-2479315Posted: 2026-06-16Location: BENTONVILLE, AR, United States; SUNNYVALE, CASalary: $130000 - $260000/yearType: Full time / Regular/PermanentCompany: WalmartBusiness Segment: Home OfficeAs a Distinguished Engineerfor the Colony Platform in the AI & Data organization, you will be 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 DoTechnical 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. Set architectural standards for reliability, security, scalability, and performance that align 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 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 Raise 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 that elevate standards across AI & Data. What You’ll BringRequired Qualifications 10+ 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 systems productionization, model serving, orchestration, and performance considerations. Experience with observability: structured logging, metrics, traces, and debugging distributed flows across client + gateway. 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 technical and non-technical audiences. Preferred Qualifications Experience leading AI/ML systems or platforms in a large enterprise environment. Experience with LLM tool-calling / agentic systems (structured tool invocation, schema validation, prompt/tool definition design, guardrails). Experience with schema/contract frameworks (JSON Schema, OpenAPI, Pydantic, protobuf) and backward-compatible tool evolution. Familiarity with 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. What You’ll Do Day-to-Day Drive architectural decisions with measurable technology impact. Evaluate and recommend cutting-edge technologies to solve hard AI problems. Advocate for platform performance, reliability, and cost efficiency. Participate in code reviews, design sessions, and system retrospectives. Mentor and elevate senior engineers and technical teams across AI & Data. Why This Role MattersIn AI & Data, we are empowering 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 globally. Your impact will extend beyond a single product or platform; it will influence Walmart’s engineering culture and technological future. About Walmart Global TechImagine working in an environment where one line of code can make life easier for hundreds of millions of people. That’s what we do at Walmart Global Tech. We’re a team of software engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity expert's and service professionals within the world’s leading retailer who make an epic impact and are at the forefront of the next retail disruption. People are why we innovate, and people power our innovations. We are people-led and tech-empowered. We train our team in the skillsets of the future and bring in experts like you to help us grow. We have roles for those chasing their first opportunity as well as those looking for the opportunity that will define their career. Here, you can kickstart a great career in tech, gain new skills and experience for virtually every industry, or leverage your expertise to innovate at scale, impact millions and reimagine the future of retail. Walmart’s culture is a competitive advantage, and it’s fostered by being together. Working together in person allows us to collaborate, align quickly and innovate with greater speed. We use our campuses to create purposeful connection rooted in deepening understanding and investing in the development of our associates. Our hubs: Walmart is a global company with offices across the United States and around the world. Our global headquarters is in Bentonville, Arkansas, with primary hubs in the San Francisco Bay area and New York/New Jersey. Benefits:Benefits: Beyond our great compensation package, you can receive incentive awards for your performance. Other great perks include 401(k) match, stock purchase plan, paid maternity and parental leave, PTO, multiple health plans, and much more.Equal Opportunity Employer:Walmart, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer – By Choice. We believe we are best equipped to help our associates, customers, and the communities we serve live better when we really know them. That means understanding, respecting, and valuing unique styles, experiences, identities, ideas, and opinions – while being inclusive of all people.The above information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed in the role. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job. The full Job Description can be made available as part of the hiring process. 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 . 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. Bentonville, Arkansas US-09050: The annual salary range for this position is $130,000.00 - $260,000.00 Sunnyvale, California US-11349: The annual salary range for this position is $169,000.00 - $338,000.00 Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses. Additional compensation for certain positions may also include : - StockMinimum 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["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."]