(USA) Staff, Data Scientist

Role summary:

As a Staff Data Scientist at Walmart, you will leverage advanced analytical techniques and machine learning to transform complex data into actionable business insights. This role requires expertise in data strategy, model development, and validation to support decision-making across multiple domains. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to design scalable solutions, develop predictive models, build auto-research capabilities, communicate findings through effective data visualization - while also mentoring junior team members to build technical capability across the team and driving end-to-end projects. Your contributions will drive innovation and operational excellence, ensuring data-driven strategies align with business objectives and deliver measurable value.

About the team:

Our team develops foundational models tailored for Walmart’s e-commerce platform by leveraging large-scale user interactions to create detailed representations of users, products, and search queries. These models support scalable search, advertising, recommendation, and personalization solutions. Team members apply expertise in data science, machine learning, and software engineering to optimize model performance, training, and deployment. Emphasizing data quality, advanced analytics, and effective visualization, the team delivers actionable insights that drive key business outcomes. Collaboration across functions fosters innovation and continuous improvement within a dynamic technology environment.

What you'll do:

• Identify and source relevant data from multiple business domains, ensuring data quality and suitability for analysis.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate business problems into data-driven solutions.
• Design, build, and validate predictive models using advanced statistical and machine learning techniques.
• Implement autonomous research loops where AI agents iteratively tune hyperparameters, modify training code/architecture, and run experiments against a defined objective metric (e.g., validation loss) with minimal human intervention.
• Automatically identify and select the best-performing models at the offline/experimentation level, reducing manual model-selection cycles.
• Deploy and monitor models in production, ensuring scalability and performance consistency.
• Mentor team members on analytical methods, coding best practices, and model development.

What you'll bring:

• Proven expertise in predictive analytics, machine learning algorithms, and statistical hypothesis testing.
• Proficiency in Python programming and data visualization tools such as Matplotlib, Plotly, or Tableau.
• Experience with model assessment, validation, and deployment in production environments.
• Hands-on experience building or operating agentic/autonomous research systems - e.g., AI agents that iteratively tune hyperparameters, modify training code/architecture with minimal human intervention.
• Experience running automated experimentation against defined objective metrics (AutoResearch loops), including auto-generated evaluation reports, offline best-model selection.
• Ability to translate complex business problems into data-driven solutions using advanced analytical modeling.
• Familiarity with MLOps practices and NLP techniques.
• Effective communication skills to present insights and mentor junior team members.

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