Walmart
Staff Data Scientist- MLE – Recommendations & Personalization
Walmart, Joplin, Missouri, us, 64803
Position Summary... What you'll do... We are seeking a Staff engineer to architect and lead the feature engineering ecosystem for large-scale recommendation and personalization systems. This role owns feature strategy, platform design, and cross-team alignment, while remaining hands‑on for high-impact systems.
Responsibilities
Feature Platform & Architecture
Design the end-to-end feature architecture supporting candidate generation, ranking, and re-ranking
Lead the design and evolution of feature stores (offline + online) optimized for recsys workloads
Define standards for feature versioning, lineage, freshness SLAs, and point-in-time correctness
Architect systems supporting real-time, near-real-time, and batch features
Technical Leadership & Influence
Drive feature engineering best practices across multiple recommendation teams
Partner with Product and ML leadership to align feature strategy with personalization goals
Mentor Senior engineers on recsys feature design and scalable data systems
Review and approve designs for complex, high-risk feature pipelines
Advanced Recsys Enablement
Enable cross-surface feature reuse (home feed, search, cart, last call, etc.)
Lead efforts around feature observability, drift detection, and model health
Anticipate future needs such as contextual personalization, cold-start handling, and diversity controls
Ownership & Execution
Own critical feature pipelines that directly impact revenue and engagement
Lead incident response for feature or data failures affecting ranking quality
Balance long-term platform investments with short-term business priorities
Explainability
Qualifications
4+ years in data engineering, ML engineering, or recsys platform roles
Deep expertise in distributed systems and large-scale data processing
Proven experience architecting feature platforms for recommendation systems
Strong understanding of ranking architectures, candidate generation, and personalization patterns
Exceptional technical communication and leadership skills
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. We’re 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.
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.
Salary The annual salary range for this position is $143,000.00 - $286,000.00. Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses and, for certain positions, stock options.
Minimum Qualifications Outlined below are the required minimum qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no minimum qualifications. Option 1: Bachelors degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 4 years' experience in an analytics related field. Option 2: Masters degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 2 years' experience in an analytics related field. Option 3: 6 years' experience in an analytics or related field.
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, 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 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.
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Responsibilities
Feature Platform & Architecture
Design the end-to-end feature architecture supporting candidate generation, ranking, and re-ranking
Lead the design and evolution of feature stores (offline + online) optimized for recsys workloads
Define standards for feature versioning, lineage, freshness SLAs, and point-in-time correctness
Architect systems supporting real-time, near-real-time, and batch features
Technical Leadership & Influence
Drive feature engineering best practices across multiple recommendation teams
Partner with Product and ML leadership to align feature strategy with personalization goals
Mentor Senior engineers on recsys feature design and scalable data systems
Review and approve designs for complex, high-risk feature pipelines
Advanced Recsys Enablement
Enable cross-surface feature reuse (home feed, search, cart, last call, etc.)
Lead efforts around feature observability, drift detection, and model health
Anticipate future needs such as contextual personalization, cold-start handling, and diversity controls
Ownership & Execution
Own critical feature pipelines that directly impact revenue and engagement
Lead incident response for feature or data failures affecting ranking quality
Balance long-term platform investments with short-term business priorities
Explainability
Qualifications
4+ years in data engineering, ML engineering, or recsys platform roles
Deep expertise in distributed systems and large-scale data processing
Proven experience architecting feature platforms for recommendation systems
Strong understanding of ranking architectures, candidate generation, and personalization patterns
Exceptional technical communication and leadership skills
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. We’re 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.
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.
Salary The annual salary range for this position is $143,000.00 - $286,000.00. Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses and, for certain positions, stock options.
Minimum Qualifications Outlined below are the required minimum qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no minimum qualifications. Option 1: Bachelors degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 4 years' experience in an analytics related field. Option 2: Masters degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 2 years' experience in an analytics related field. Option 3: 6 years' experience in an analytics or related field.
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, 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 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.
#J-18808-Ljbffr