(USA) Principal, Software Engineer

Walmart; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 143,000 - 286,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401(k) and stock purchase

P aid time off

Life insurance

Education benefits

Job summary

Walmart seeks a Principal Software Engineer in Sunnyvale, CA to lead the design and delivery of scalable platform capabilities, driving cloud-native architecture and AI/ML integration. You will oversee the full SDLC across multiple teams, emphasizing availability, performance, and architectural excellence.

You will mentor engineers, promote best practices, and collaborate with product and business units to align technical roadmaps with Walmart's strategic objectives.

Qualifications

• Experience building scalable, high-availability distributed systems.
• Ability to create architectural design documents and design high-performance microservices.
• Experience mentoring teams and aligning engineering with business goals.

Responsibilities

• Lead platform engineering to deliver scalable infrastructure and ML tooling.
• Architect cloud-native, distributed systems with high availability.
• Oversee end-to-end software lifecycle: coding, testing, CI/CD, monitoring, incident response.
• Integrate AI/ML into software products to improve user experiences.
• Provide technical leadership and promote best practices.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business needs into technical plans.
• Maintain architectural docs and drive continuous improvement.

Skills

Platform engineering leadership

Cloud-native architecture

Distributed systems

CI/CD

Mentorship

Cross-functional collaboration

Python

Java

C++

AI/ML integration

Education

Master's degree in CS/CE/IT or related

Bachelor's degree in CS/CE/IT or related

Tools

Kafka

Cassandra

DB2

ElasticSearch

Logstash

Kibana

Kubernetes

Docker

Golang

Scala

Java

Python

Job description

Position Summary

Position Summary...

What you'll do

What you'll do...

Role summary:

The Principal Software Engineer leads the design and delivery of scalable platform capabilities, driving cloud-native architecture and AI/ML integration across multiple teams. This role oversees the full software development lifecycle, ensuring high availability, reliability, and performance of distributed systems. The position requires strategic technical leadership, mentorship, and collaboration with cross‑functional stakeholders to align engineering efforts with business objectives. The engineer champions innovation, continuous improvement, and technical excellence while maintaining architectural standards and fostering knowledge sharing to support Walmart's long‑term technology vision.

About the team:

The Marketplace Tech team builds a dynamic platform connecting customers with third‑party sellers by transforming complex data into actionable insights and production‑ready models. Collaborating with product, engineering, and business units, the team enhances seller success, customer experience, trust, safety, and growth. Members define success metrics, conduct experiments, and develop predictive and causal solutions that deliver measurable impact. Leveraging expertise in data science, machine learning, Python, and data visualization, the team addresses complex challenges with a focus on technical excellence, innovation, and clear communication to achieve strategic objectives.

What you'll do:

• Lead platform engineering efforts to deliver scalable infrastructure, reusable tooling, and advanced ML frameworks aligned with strategic roadmaps.
• Architect and implement cloud‑native, distributed systems ensuring high availability, fault tolerance, and real‑time data processing capabilities.
• Oversee full software development lifecycle including coding, testing, CI/CD deployment, monitoring, and incident response across multiple teams.
• Integrate AI/ML technologies into software products to enhance customer and associate experiences.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and promote engineering best practices and innovation.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business needs into actionable technical requirements and measurable outcomes.
• Maintain architectural documentation and drive continuous improvement initiatives.

What you'll bring:

• Extensive experience in platform engineering leadership, delivering scalable infrastructure and reusable tooling aligned with strategic roadmaps.
• Proven expertise in cloud‑native architecture and distributed system design ensuring high availability and fault tolerance.
• Strong technical execution skills across full software development lifecycle, including CI/CD, testing, monitoring, and incident response.
• Proficiency in AI/ML integration and building intelligent software systems using languages such as Python, Java, and C++.
• Demonstrated ability to provide technical mentorship and influence architectural decisions across teams.
• Excellent collaboration skills with cross‑functional stakeholders to define requirements and measure success.
• Commitment to continuous improvement, innovation, and maintaining high standards of quality and integrity.

Minimum education and experience required: Master's degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Software Engineering, Information Technology Management, or related area and 3 years of experience in software engineering or related area; OR Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Software Engineering, Information Technology Management, or related area and 5 years of post‑bachelor's progressively responsible experience in software engineering or related area.

Skills required: Experience building highly available, high‑performance, redundant, and scalable distributed systems. Experience documenting high‑level technical design documents. Experience developing low‑level design documents. Experience designing and developing high‑performance microservices using Java, Golang, and Scala. Experience implementing Rest APIs with low latency and high reliability in Golang. Experience building event‑driven systems using Kafka for increased throughput. Experience integrating Cassandra, DB2 databases and optimizing query performance for high‑load scenarios. Experience optimizing performance of microservices using profiling, concurrency and caching in Golang. Experience refactoring monolith services into scalable microservices in Golang. Experience integrating Elastic Search, Logstash, and Kibana for monitoring production systems. Experience deploying containerized services on Kubernetes. Experience performing code reviews in Golang, Java, and Scala to ensure best practices and coding standards. Experience mentoring and guiding junior associates on engineering standards. Experience collaborating with DevOps teams to streamline CI/CD pipelines. Employer will accept any amount of experience with the required skills.

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 https://one.walmart.com/notices.

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 $143,000.00 - $286,000.00

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 computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or related area and 5 years' experience in software engineering or related area.

Option 2: 7 years' experience in software engineering or related area.

Preferred Qualifications

Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.

Master's degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or related area and 3 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.

Primary Location

1395 Crossman Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1114, 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.