Principal, Data Analyst

Sam's Club; Bentonville (AR); On-site; USD 90,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401(k) and stock purchase

Paid time off

Life insurance

Education programs (Live Better U)

Job summary

Sam’s Club is seeking a Principal Sensory Scientist to lead advanced sensory and consumer research, shaping how products across categories are evaluated and improved. You will design rigorous studies, analyze complex data, and translate findings into actionable direction for Product Development and Merchandising.

You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive product quality, reduce risk, and influence decisions from early development to validation, with benefits and performance-based

Qualifications

• Minimum qualifications include degrees in business/engineering/statistics/analytics and several years of data analysis experience.
• Advanced degrees and hands-on experience in sensory/consumer research are highly desirable.
• Experience in retail, CPG, or product development is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute complex sensory research across multiple product categories.
• Select and apply the right methodologies based on the product, business question, and development stage.
• Apply statistical techniques to independently analyze and interpret research results.
• Develop new approaches and methodologies that advance Sam’s Club sensory capabilities.
• Partner with Product Development to diagnose product performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Translate sensory data into specific, actionable product direction.

Skills

Sensory science

Consumer research

Experimental design

Statistical analysis

Data integration

Education

Master’s degree in related field

Bachelor’s degree in related field

Tools

SQL

Python

Power BI

Tableau

Job description

Position Summary...

What you’ll do...Role summary: As a Principal Sensory Scientist, you will serve as a senior scientific expert helping shape how Sam’s Club evaluates and improves products across merchandise categories. You’ll lead complex sensory and consumer research, develop advanced methodologies, and translate Member feedback into clear product direction. Working closely with Product Development, Merchandising, Quality, Consumer Insights, and suppliers, you’ll apply deep scientific expertise to solve challenging product questions and influence decisions from early development through validation. This is a highly influential individual-contributor role for a scientist who can independently design rigorous research, perform advanced analysis, and turn complex findings into actionable business recommendations.

About the team: The Member’s Mark Consumer & Sensory Insights team integrates member feedback into product development for Sam’s Club. Utilizing quantitative and qualitative research methods, the team conducts in-home tests, central location evaluations, and immersive studies to co-create and optimize products. By translating member experiences into actionable insights, the team supports Product Development, Merchandising, and supplier partners. Their focus is to deeply understand members, enhance product quality, reduce risk, and drive performance. Expertise in data analysis, visualization, exploratory analysis, data strategy, quality, and sensory analysis underpins their approach to delivering impactful business solutions.

What you’ll do:

• Design and execute complex sensory research across multiple product categories.
• Select and apply the right methodologies based on the product, business question, and development stage.
• Apply statistical techniques to independently analyze and interpret research results.
• Develop new approaches and methodologies that advance Sam’s Club sensory capabilities.
• Partner with Product Development to diagnose product performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Translate sensory data into specific, actionable product direction.
• Connect multiple sources of data to explain what Members experience, why it matters, and what should change.
• Guide teams on when products are ready to advance, require optimization, or need additional validation.

What you’ll bring:

• Extensive expertise in sensory science, consumer research, and product evaluation.
• Advanced knowledge of affective, discrimination, descriptive, and consumer acceptance methodologies.
• Strong expertise in experimental design and statistical analysis.
• Ability to independently analyze complex datasets and translate findings into product recommendations.
• Experience selecting and adapting methodologies to solve non-routine research questions.

Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in sensory science, consumer science, product research, or related discipline.
• Advanced degree in Food Science, Sensory Science, Consumer Science, Psychology, Statistics, or a related field.
• Significant hands-on experience with experimental design and statistical analysis.
• Experience in retail, CPG, food manufacturing, consumer products, or product innovation.

At Sam’s Club, 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, parental leave, family care leave, bereavement, jury duty, and voting. 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 https://one.walmart.com/notices.

• Other benefits include short-term and long-term disability, company discounts, Military Leave Pay, adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, and more.

Live Better U is a company 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.

Benefits

For information about benefits and eligibility, see One.Walmart.

The annual salary range for this position is $90,000.00 - $180,000.00 Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses. Additional compensation for certain positions may also include Regional Pay Zone (RPZ) (based on location).

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 Business, Engineering, Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Arts, Finance or related field and 4 years' experience in data analysis, data science, statistics, or related field.
• Option 2: Master's degree in Business, Engineering, Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 2 years' experience in data analysis, data science, statistics, or related field.
• Option 3: 6 years' experience in data analysis, data science, statistics, 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, data analysis, statistics, or related field, Master’s degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field, Related industry experience (for example, retail, merchandising, healthcare, eCommerce), Successful completion of assessments in data analysis and Business Intelligence tools and scripting languages (for example, SQL, Python, Spark, Scala, R, Power BI, or Tableau)

Primary Location

2101 Se Simple Savings Dr, Bentonville, AR 72712-4304, 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.