Director, Software Engineering - Elm Springs - Walmart

Description

Position Summary...

What you'll do...

About the Role
As the Director of Engineering for Walmart's Agent AI Platform, you will lead the strategy, architecture, and execution of the core AI technologies powering Sparky and the next generation of customer experiences. You will drive the foundational platform capabilities—including agent orchestration, reasoning pipelines, retrieval systems, and real-time AI inference—that enable intelligent, scalable, and trustworthy AI across web, mobile, and in-store experiences.
You will partner with Product, Design, Data Science, Research, and cross-functional Engineering teams to shape the future of AI at Walmart. Your leadership will foster a culture of innovation, technical excellence, and high performance while delivering solutions that impact hundreds of millions of users. What you'll do:
Platform & Technical Leadership

• Lead architecture and development of Sparky Agent AI Platform, powering conversational and task-oriented agents.
• Design and scale distributed systems supporting LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), knowledge bases, and agent orchestration.
• Define platform capabilities such as context management, evaluation pipelines, safety/guardrails, observability, and cost-efficient inference.
• Drive technical strategy and platform roadmaps aligned with business goals and long-term product vision.
• Ensure excellence in performance, reliability, accessibility, and security of AI-driven systems.

Execution & Delivery

• Deliver production-ready AI platform features used by multiple product and experience teams.
• Establish engineering best practices, high code quality, and strong operational maturity (SLOs, incident management, performance monitoring).
• Improve developer workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud-native deployment processes.
• Ensure fast iteration loops for model integration, experimentation, and continuous improvement.

People Leadership

• Lead, grow, and mentor a team of high-performing backend and platform engineers (including managers and senior ICs).
• Build a strong engineering culture centered on innovation, accountability, and learning.
• Drive team planning, goal setting, career development, and performance management.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Product and UX to deliver intuitive, AI-powered customer experiences.
• Work closely with Applied AI/Data Science teams to productize models, optimize inference, and establish evaluation frameworks.
• Collaborate with Security, Legal, and Responsible AI teams to ensure safe, compliant, and ethical AI deployment.

Innovation & Thought Leadership

• Stay ahead of emerging AI technologies, agent frameworks, model architectures, and industry trends.
• Champion experimentation and rapid prototyping to unlock new capabilities and improve user experiences.
• Influence enterprise-wide AI strategy through technical vision, architectural leadership, and platform standardization.

What you'll bring:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field; Master's preferred.
• 15+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years in engineering leadership roles.
• Proven experience building and scaling large distributed systems (Java, Python, or similar).
• Hands-on experience with modern AI/ML platforms: LLMs, RAG, vector search, knowledge bases, orchestration frameworks.
• Deep knowledge of cloud-native architectures, micro-services, CI/CD, and backend testing frameworks.
• Experience working with data science or ML teams to bring models into production.
• Track record of delivering platforms adopted by multiple product teams at enterprise scale.
• Strong communication skills, strategic thinking, and ability to drive alignment across diverse stakeholders.
• Experience in retail, e-commerce, or other large-scale consumer-facing products is a plus.

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. Were a team of software engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity experts 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.
Walmart's culture is a competitive advantage, and its fostered by being together. Working together in person allows us to collaborate, align quickly and innovate with greater speed. We use our campuses to create purposeful connection rooted in deepening understanding and investing in the development of our associates.
Our hubs: Walmart is a global company with offices across the United States and around the world. Our global headquarters is in Bentonville, Arkansas, with primary hubs in the San Francisco Bay area and New York/New Jersey.

Benefits:
Benefits: Beyond our great compensation package, you can receive incentive awards for your performance. Other great perks include 401(k) match, stock purchase plan, paid maternity and parental leave, PTO, multiple health plans, and much more.

Equal Opportunity Employer:
Walmart, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity 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. 

The above information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed in the role. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job. The full Job Description can be made available as part of the hiring process.

Your Career Journey at Walmart
At Walmart, we want to make sure your experience connecting with us is seamless and straightforward. Here's what to expect when interacting with us as recruiters:
We'll reach out via verified LinkedIn profiles or emails ending in "" or "". All job opportunities and applications are hosted on our official careers site: There is no cost or payment required to apply or be considered for a position.
If you have any doubts about a communication, feel free to visit our careers page to verify authenticity. Thank you for exploring opportunities at Walmart 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 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 $130, $260,000.00 Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses. Additional compensation for certain positions may also include :
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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 6 years' experience in software engineering or related area.
Option 2: 8 years' experience in software engineering or related area.
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.

Master's degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, software engineering, or related area and 4 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...

805 Se Moberly Ln, Bentonville, AR 72712, United States of AmericaWalmart 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.