Principal, Software Engineer

Role summary: The (USA) 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 translate complex business needs into effective solutions.

The Principal Engineer champions innovation, continuous improvement, and adherence to quality standards while fostering a culture of engineering excellence aligned with long‑term organizational goals.

About the team: At Walmart Connect, the AdTech Engineering team develops advanced platforms and AI‑driven solutions that integrate advertising, commerce, and data. The team addresses complex challenges such as automated media generation and next‑generation AI systems to improve operations for advertisers, sellers, and internal partners. Leveraging extensive first‑party data and an AI‑first approach, the team pioneers intelligent agents and autonomous workflows shaping the future of retail advertising.

Engineers contribute to impactful products that drive measurable outcomes, accelerate growth, and influence millions of customer journeys daily through innovative technical solutions and collaboration.

What you’ll do:

• Lead platform engineering efforts to deliver scalable, cloud‑native infrastructure and reusable tooling aligned with strategic roadmaps.
• Drive full software development lifecycle management, including design, testing, deployment, and maintenance of distributed systems.
• Architect and integrate AI/ML solutions to enhance intelligent applications serving millions of users.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship, promoting engineering excellence and standardization across teams.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business needs into actionable technical requirements and measurable outcomes.
• Ensure high system availability, scalability, and fault tolerance through sound architectural decisions.
• Foster continuous improvement by adopting innovative tools and practices to increase development velocity and quality.

What you’ll bring:

• Extensive experience in platform engineering leadership, delivering scalable, cloud‑native architectures and reusable tooling.
• Proven ability to lead full software development lifecycle, including CI/CD, testing, monitoring, and incident response.
• Strong expertise in AI/ML integration, model‑driven design, and building intelligent software systems.
• Proficiency in multiple programming languages such as Python, Java, JavaScript, Dart, Rust, and C++.
• Demonstrated technical judgment with sound decision‑making and long‑term architectural planning.
• Effective collaboration and communication skills across cross‑functional teams and stakeholders.
• Commitment to continuous improvement, innovation, and mentoring engineering teams.

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…