Senior Director, Software Engineering
Walmart
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
Walmart Global Tech seeks a Senior Director, Software Engineering – AdTech in Chennai. You will lead the Offsite Ads engineering, owning DSP/SSP/DMP platforms, real-time bidding and data-driven advertising at scale.
You will partner with US leadership to set multi-year strategy, drive cross-geo execution, and build a diverse, high-performance team. The role is based in Chennai with daily on-site work and strong collaboration across global teams.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's or Master's in Engineering or CS; advanced degree preferred.
- 18+ years in software engineering and leading large multi-layer teams.
- Deep AdTech expertise across DSP/ SSP/ DMP and real-time auctions.
- Experience with large-scale real-time serving and big data processing.
- Experience with Spark, Kafka and NoSQL stores.
- AI/ML in advertising and productivity optimization.
- Ability to set multi-year technical strategy and budgets.
- Experience partnering with US/global leaders and cross-time zones.
- Track record of hiring and building inclusive culture.
Responsibilities
- Serve as the Site Lead for Ads and Walmart Plus (W+) in Chennai, setting site vision and operating rhythm.
- Own functional leadership of Offsite Ads engineering, defining tech strategy, roadmaps and architecture for DSP/SSP/DMP and real-time auctioning.
- Partner with US product, business and engineering leaders to set priorities and align roadmaps.
- Lead and scale the Chennai organization (~30 members) through managers and senior tech leaders.
- Drive operational excellence for real-time platforms: availability, latency, security and cost efficiency.
- Ensure robust data processing (batch and streaming) powering targeting, measurement and reporting.
- Champion AI/ML-led innovation to improve advertiser outcomes and developer productivity.
- Translate business strategy into prioritized investments and measure business value.
- Establish engineering best practices and hold teams to high standards across DevOps/SRE and responsible AI.
- Drive multi-program execution, budgets, headcount and risk management.
- Develop partnerships to maximize business goals and community engagement.
- Drive continuous improvement by adopting industry best practices and fostering an inclusive culture across geographies.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
As the Senior Director, Software Engineering – AdTech (Ads and Walmart Plus) at Walmart Global Tech, you will serve as the Site Lead for the Ads and Walmart Plus (W+) organization in Chennai and own functional leadership of Offsite Ads engineering. You will set the strategy, architecture and delivery direction for our in-house AdTech platforms – DSP, SSP, DMP and real-time auctioning – while building and leading a high-performing, multi-layer engineering organization that powers one of the fastest-growing businesses at Walmart.
About Team:
Ads is the fastest-growing organization in Walmart, growing ~40% year over year, and is the 2nd largest retail media business in the industry. It operates the flywheel for Walmart’s business. The AdTech engineering team in Chennai is a key part of this organization, building and running the technology that serves advertisers, suppliers and customers at scale.
The AdTech team builds a best-in-class, in-house technology stack – including DSP, SSP, DMP and real-time auctioning – and solves problems at very high scale and complexity. The team is known for innovation and AI transformation, and operates with the agility of a nimble startup while delivering at Walmart scale.
What you’ll do:
- Serve as the Site Lead for Ads and Walmart Plus (W+) in Chennai: set the site vision, culture and operating rhythm, attract and retain top talent, and represent the site with global leadership.
- Own functional leadership of Offsite Ads engineering from Chennai, defining the technical strategy, multi-year roadmap and architecture for DSP, SSP, DMP and real-time auctioning platforms.
- Partner with US product, business and engineering leaders to set organizational priorities, align roadmaps and drive cross-geography execution and accountability for business outcomes.
- Lead and scale the Chennai organization (~30 members today) through managers and senior technical leaders; build the leadership pipeline and succession plans.
- Drive operational excellence for platforms that serve ads in real time at very high scale – availability, latency, reliability, security, privacy and cost efficiency.
- Ensure robust large-scale data processing (batch and streaming) that powers targeting, measurement, attribution and reporting, with strong data quality and governance.
- Champion AI/ML-led innovation across the ad platforms and AI-first engineering practices to improve advertiser outcomes and developer productivity.
- Translate business strategy and advertiser needs into a prioritized portfolio of investments, using a consistent framework to assess business value.
- Establish engineering best practices – architecture reviews, quality, DevOps/SRE and responsible AI – and hold teams to a high bar.
- Drive the execution of multiple concurrent programs and business plans across teams, managing budgets, headcount and risks.
- Develop and leverage internal and external partnerships and networks to maximize the achievement of business goals, including sponsoring key community outreach and engagement initiatives.
- Drive continuous improvement by researching industry best practices and incorporating them into the way we build and operate.
- Create an inclusive, collaborative environment across geographies for delivering the best services to customers around the globe.
What you’ll bring:
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science or a closely related discipline; advanced degree preferred.
- 18+ years of experience in software engineering, including significant experience leading large, multi-layer engineering organizations (managers of managers) and distributed teams.
- Deep AdTech expertise across DSP, SSP and DMP platforms, real-time bidding and auctions, audience targeting, measurement and attribution; Offsite / programmatic experience is preferred.
- Proven track record of building and scaling high-throughput, low-latency real-time serving systems and large-scale batch and streaming data processing.
- Experience with big data and distributed computation technologies such as Spark, Kafka and NoSQL stores (e.g., Cassandra), and strong DevOps/SRE fundamentals.
- Practical understanding of applying AI/ML in advertising (e.g., bid optimization, relevance, personalization) and of using AI to improve engineering productivity.
- Demonstrated ability to set multi-year technical strategy, manage budgets and influence senior stakeholders with strong executive presence.
- Experience partnering with US/global leaders and leading teams across time zones; prior experience as a site or country leader is a plus.
- Track record of hiring senior talent, developing leaders and building an inclusive, high-performance culture.
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 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.
Work
Walmart’s culture sets us apart, and we know being together helps us innovate, learn and grow great careers. This role is based in our Chennai office for daily work, with the flexibility for associates to manage their personal lives.
Benefits
Beyond our great compensation package, you can receive incentive awards for your performance. Other great perks include a host of best-in-class benefits maternity and parental leave, PTO, health benefits, and much more.
Belonging
We aim to create a culture where every associate feels valued for who they are, rooted in respect for the individual. Our goal is to foster a sense of belonging, to create opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers, and to be a Walmart for everyone.
At Walmart, our vision is “everyone included.” By fostering a workplace culture where everyone is—and feels—included, everyone wins. Our associates and customers reflect the makeup of all 19 countries where we operate. By making Walmart a welcoming place where all people feel like they belong, we’re able to engage associates, strengthen our business, improve our ability to serve customers, and support the communities where we operate.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Walmart, Inc., is an Equal Opportunities 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.
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 7 years’ experience in software engineering or related area.
Option 2: 9 years’ experience in software engineering or related area. 4 years’ supervisory experience.
Master’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or related area and 5 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.
Tower 1, Part Of 1st, 2nd To 4th Flrs, Intl Tech Park Radial Road (radial It Park Pvt Ltd), , India
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