(USA) Principal, Software Engineer

Role summary

The Principal Software Engineer - Tech leads complex, large-scale projects by translating requirements into innovative technical solutions and overseeing design, development, and testing activities. This role directs cross-functional engineering teams, ensuring timely delivery and high-quality outcomes while driving root cause analysis and continuous improvement.

Collaborating closely with business partners, the position shapes strategic priorities and fosters effective communication across stakeholders. You'll also shape how AI fits in two ways: as capabilities inside our products and platforms, and as a force multiplier for how our engineers design, build, test, and run software. This is a hands-on technical leadership role.

What you'll do

• Lead platform engineering efforts by delivering scalable infrastructure, reusable tooling, and cloud-native architectures aligned with strategic roadmaps.
• Drive full software development lifecycle activities including design, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance across multiple teams.
• Architect and implement AI-enhanced applications and intelligent systems supporting millions of users.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineering teams, promoting best practices and innovation.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business needs into actionable technical requirements and measurable outcomes.
• Maintain architectural documentation to ensure transparency and alignment.
• Foster continuous improvement by integrating new technologies and optimizing processes.
• Build AI-powered capabilities, such as LLM-driven automation, agentic workflows, anomaly detection with the right guardrails

What you'll bring

• Extensive experience in platform engineering leadership, delivering scalable, cloud-native architectures and reusable tooling.
• Proven expertise in software development lifecycle management, including CI/CD, testing, observability, and incident response.
• Strong proficiency in AI/ML integration and building intelligent software systems using languages such as Python, Java, and C++.
• Demonstrated ability to apply model-driven design and technical solution design to complex distributed systems.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills with a focus on innovation and continuous improvement.
• Effective mentorship and leadership capabilities to guide engineering teams and influence architectural decisions.
• Experience with MCP or similar patterns for connecting AI agents to enterprise systems and tools

Pay and benefits

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 $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

815 Eleventh Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94089-4731, United States of America