Senior Director, Data Science & Ontology

Walmart; Bentonville (AR); On-site; USD 160,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Walmart seeks a Senior Director of Data Science & Ontology to define and scale semantic intelligence strategies across the company. Lead teams spanning ontology, taxonomy, knowledge graphs, ML, and AI-enabled data products to deliver measurable business impact at enterprise scale.

You will partner with product, engineering, merchandising, and executive stakeholders to drive high-value opportunities, establish governance, and ensure responsible AI practices while building a world-class data

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, applied AI, ontology, knowledge graphs, search, recommendations, data platforms, or related technical domains.
• 6+ years of people leadership experience, including leading managers, senior technical talent, or multi-disciplinary data science and AI teams.
• Proven success defining strategy and delivering enterprise-scale data science, AI, semantic data, ontology, taxonomy, or knowledge graph capabilities in production.
• Deep understanding of ontology design, taxonomy governance, semantic modeling, metadata, data quality, entity resolution, and data governance.
• Strong applied AI and machine learning foundation, including experience with NLP, embeddings, classification, ranking, recommendation systems, experimentation, model evaluation, and production model monitoring.
• Experience partnering with product, engineering, business, governance, and executive stakeholders to turn ambiguous business problems into scalable technical solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate technical strategy, tradeoffs, risks, and business impact to senior executives.
• Track record of building inclusive, high-performing teams and developing future leaders.

Responsibilities

• Lead Enterprise Data Science and Ontology Strategy and translate business priorities into scalable semantic capabilities.
• Build scalable ontology-driven systems connecting structured and unstructured data across domains.
• Own data quality, governance, and responsible AI with auditability and compliance.
• Drive business impact by partnering with leaders to define success metrics and ROI.
• Lead end-to-end data science lifecycle from problem framing to deployment and monitoring.
• Scale teams with talent development and robust operating models.
• Champion innovation in semantic data platforms and responsible AI.

Skills

Data science

Ontology

Knowledge graphs

Semantic search

Machine learning

Leadership

Communication

AI governance

LLM / RAG

MLOps

Education

Advanced degree

Tools

Spark

Python

SQL

Graph databases

SPARQL

Job description

Position Summary

At Walmart, data and AI shape decisions that improve experiences for millions of customers, members, and associates. The Senior Director, Data Science & Ontology will define and scale Walmart’s semantic intelligence strategy, bringing together data science, ontology, taxonomy, knowledge graphs, machine learning, and responsible AI to make Walmart’s data more connected, discoverable, trusted, and actionable. This leader will set the multi-year vision for ontology-driven data products and AI capabilities, lead high-performing teams, and partner with product, engineering, merchandising, search, catalog, operations, governance, and executive stakeholders to deliver measurable business impact at enterprise scale.

What you’ll do

• Lead Enterprise Data Science and Ontology Strategy Define and execute a multi-year strategy for ontology, taxonomy, knowledge graph, semantic search, metadata, and AI-enabled data products. Translate Walmart’s business priorities into scalable semantic data capabilities that improve customer experiences, associate productivity, operational efficiency, and decision quality.
• Build Scalable Semantic and AI Systems Lead the development of ontology-driven systems that connect structured and unstructured data across complex business domains. Guide teams building capabilities such as entity resolution, classification, product and content enrichment, semantic search, recommendation relevance, knowledge graphs, embeddings, LLM-enabled workflows, RAG, and intelligent data discovery.
• Own Data Quality, Governance, and Responsible AI Establish standards for ontology design, taxonomy governance, metadata quality, lineage, stewardship, measurement, and model governance. Ensure data science and AI systems are explainable, reliable, monitored, auditable, and aligned with Walmart’s standards for integrity, privacy, compliance, and responsible technology use.
• Drive Business Impact and Executive Alignment Partner with senior leaders across product, engineering, merchandising, operations, customer experience, and business teams to identify high-value opportunities, define success metrics, build business cases, and deliver measurable ROI. Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to executive, technical, and non-technical audiences.
• Lead the End-to-End Data Science Lifecycle Oversee problem formulation, exploratory analysis, feature strategy, ontology design, model development, experimentation, validation, deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement. Ensure teams use appropriate statistical, machine learning, optimization, and AI techniques to solve high-scale business problems.
• Scale Teams, Talent, and Operating Models Build, lead, and develop a world-class team of data scientists, ontology specialists, applied scientists, machine learning practitioners, data strategists, and technical leaders. Create a high-performance culture through hiring, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, capability building, and clear accountability.
• Champion Innovation at Walmart Scale Stay current with emerging practices in data science, ontology engineering, generative AI, knowledge graphs, MLOps, semantic data platforms, and responsible AI. Identify where new technologies can create competitive advantage, while ensuring practical adoption, measurable impact, and operational excellence.

What You’ll Bring

• 12+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, applied AI, ontology, knowledge graphs, search, recommendations, data platforms, or related technical domains.
• 6+ years of people leadership experience, including leading managers, senior technical talent, or multi-disciplinary data science and AI teams.
• Proven success defining strategy and delivering enterprise-scale data science, AI, semantic data, ontology, taxonomy, or knowledge graph capabilities in production.
• Deep understanding of ontology design, taxonomy governance, semantic modeling, metadata, data quality, entity resolution, and data governance.
• Strong applied AI and machine learning foundation, including experience with NLP, embeddings, classification, ranking, recommendation systems, experimentation, model evaluation, and production model monitoring.
• Experience partnering with product, engineering, business, governance, and executive stakeholders to turn ambiguous business problems into scalable technical solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate technical strategy, tradeoffs, risks, and business impact to senior executives.
• Track record of building inclusive, high-performing teams and developing future leaders.

Additional Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Information Science, Computational Linguistics, AI, Machine Learning, or a related field.
• Experience in retail, e-commerce, marketplace, product catalog, search, personalization, merchandising, supply chain, advertising, or large-scale consumer technology.
• Experience with knowledge graph technologies and standards such as RDF, OWL, SHACL, SPARQL, graph databases, schema design, semantic layers, or enterprise metadata platforms.
• Experience applying generative AI, LLMs, RAG, vector search, agentic workflows, or embeddings to enterprise data, product data, or knowledge systems.
• Experience with large-scale data ecosystems such as Spark, Python, SQL, cloud platforms, distributed data systems, MLOps platforms, and model governance tools.
• Strong record of responsible AI implementation, including fairness, transparency, explainability, privacy, compliance, monitoring, and risk management.

Leadership Expectations

Respect the Individual Build high-performing teams by seeking and embracing different perspectives, backgrounds, ideas, and experiences. Create an environment where associates feel seen, supported, connected, and empowered to do their best work. Develop talent through feedback, coaching, mentoring, recognition, and clear growth opportunities.

Act with Integrity Model Walmart’s values and lead with the highest standards of ethics, compliance, transparency, and accountability. Ensure teams follow the law, Walmart’s Code of Conduct, company policies, and responsible data and AI practices. Foster a culture where associates feel safe raising concerns and where leaders act with humility, fairness, and trust.

Serve Customers and Members Put customers and members first in every strategy, roadmap, and technology decision. Use data, analytics, customer insights, and business understanding to improve experiences, increase relevance, reduce friction, and support Walmart’s Every Day Low Cost and Every Day Low Price commitments.

Strive for Excellence Raise the bar for technical quality, business impact, innovation, and speed. Encourage curiosity, learning, intelligent risk-taking, and resilience. Drive continuous improvement and responsible adoption of new technologies that strengthen Walmart’s business model and create real-world impact.

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.

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.

The annual salary range for this position is $160,000.00 - $320,000.00

Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses.

Additional compensation for certain positions may also include :

• Stock

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 Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 7 years’ experience in an analytics related field.
• Option 2: Master’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 5 years’ experience in an analytics related field.
• Option 3: 9 years’ experience in an analytics or related field.
• 3 years’ supervisory experience.

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, Successful completion of one or more assessments in Python, Spark, Scala, or R, Supervisory experience, 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.

Primary Location

806 Excellence Dr, Bentonville, AR 72716, 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.