Staff, Data Scientist (Pricing/Reinforcement Learning)

Reference: R-2575155Posted: 2026-08-07Location: BENTONVILLE, AR, United States; SUNNYVALE, CASalary: $110000 - $220000/yearType: Full time / Regular/PermanentCompany: WalmartBusiness Segment: Home OfficeImmigration sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the United States without current or future visa sponsorship. This is a full-time onsite role based in Bentonville, AR or Sunnyvale, CA; remote and hybrid options are not available. About the Role:The Walmart Global Tech Applied AI Data Science team is looking for a Staff Data Scientist to work alongside our team of data scientists to build complex, cutting edge, and scalable algorithms for our Pricing organization. We are shaping the future of retail and are ready to work closely with merchants to solve their problems. About the Team: The Applied AI team researches and develops advanced algorithms that power strategic decision-making across pricing, markdown optimization, price recommendations, price elasticity, assortment optimization, supply chain, replenishment, and store layout. You will work closely with data scientists, machine learning engineers, operations research scientists, and data analysts, while collaborating with business leaders, product managers, pricing strategists, software engineers, and data engineers to build AI-driven solutions at enterprise scale.Our work combines techniques from forecasting, optimization, operations research, machine learning (classical ML, deep learning, reinforcement learning), causal inference, experimentation, and statistics to solve complex pricing and retail challenges. We develop innovative AI solutions that directly influence business strategy and customer experience, and our research is regularly published in top-tier conferences and journals.What You’ll Do:Design and deploy prescriptive ML models to address high-impact pricing and markdown needs, ensuring alignment with Walmart’s Global Tech strategy and EDLP integrity.Perform elasticity analysis across large data sets and category segments to empower data-driven pricing decisions.Own the E2E Price Recommendation lifecycle, including scoping, feature engineering, causal modeling, experimentation (A/B testing), and ongoing performance optimization.Develop advanced pricing and optimization solutions using: Causal Inference & Elasticity: Identification of treatment effects beyond simple log-log approaches (Double ML, Instrumental Variables, Uplift modeling); Optimization & Reinforcement Learning: Multi-armed bandits, Deep RL(PPO, DQN) for sequential decision-making, and constrained optimization; Deep Learning: Modern architectures for demand sensing and price-response curves; Uncertainty Quantification: Bayesian approaches and conformal prediction to manage the risk of price changes.Build explainable pricing systems: Provide model interpretability and stakeholder-facing narratives on "why" a price recommendation was made (e.g., competitor move vs. inventory health).Apply graph-based modeling to capture cannibalization and halo effects across product hierarchies and spatial locations (GNNs, temporal graphs).Establish strong evaluation and monitoring: Backtesting against historical price changes, drift detection, and calibration of price-response curves.Drive best practices in AgentOps: Build Agentic workflows to enable chat-based price explainability and "what-if" scenario planning for Merchants.Collaborate and Mentor: Partner with Product, Business, and Engineering to set technical direction and mentor the next generation of MLEs.What You’ll Bring:8+ years in Data Science / Applied ML (or PhD + 5 years), with deep hands-on exposure to pricing, elasticity, or causal modeling.Demonstrated experience delivering production-grade optimization models with measurable financial outcomes (e.g., Margin lift, Inventory turnover).Strong knowledge of pricing dynamics: Seasonality, competitor indexing, promotional impact, regime changes, and price-point psychology.Hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks (PyTorch or TensorFlow) and modern architectures for decision-focused AI.Practical experience with Explainable AI (XAI) and communicating complex model reasoning to non-technical business stakeholders.Excellent coding skills in Python; strong grasp of software engineering fundamentals (testing, CI/CD, MLOps).Preferred Qualifications:Experience with Causal Inference & Decision Science: Impact estimation, counterfactuals, and policy evaluation.Advanced Graph Learning: Using GNNs to model cross-item elasticity and substitution patterns.Large-scale Data/Compute: Experience with Spark, Feature Stores, and distributed training in a cloud environment (GCP/Azure).Building Human-Centered AI: Dashboards for "driver decomposition" and "why the price changed" analysis.Agentic Frameworks: Experience deploying LLM-based agents to act as intermediaries between complex models and business users.About Walmart Global Tech: Imagine 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 experts 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 connections rooted in deepening understanding and investing in the development of our associates. 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 welcoming 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. #LI-onsite 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-10343: The annual salary range for this position is $110,000.00 - $220,000.00 Sunnyvale, California US-11656: The annual salary range for this position is $143,000.00 - $286,000.00 Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses. Additional compensation for certain positions may also include : - StockMinimum qualifications["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"]Preferred qualifications["PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Information Technology, Operations Research, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Econometrics", "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.", "Successful completion of one or more assessments in Python, Spark, Scala, or R", "Data science, machine learning, optimization models", "Using open source frameworks (for example, scikit learn, tensorflow, torch)"]Additional information(empty)