Principal, Software Engineer

Company: Walmart
Location: Fremont
Posted on: March 1, 2026

Job Description:

Position Summary The Principal Engineer for Conversational AI Platform will be a technical leader responsible for designing, building, and deploying scalable and robust GenAI platforms and solutions. This role emphasizes both technical depth and leadership, driving the operational and engineering excellence, mentoring engineers, and ensuring the platform delivers significant business impact. What you'll do About Team The Walmart Emerging-Tech group is a group charted to drive the creation of the next generation retail and shopping experiences for both online and in-store. The group leads Walmart’s efforts in the areas of Conversational AI, Voice Assistants, Extended Reality and more. As the Walmart Conversational AI team we are building completely new capabilities to allow our customers to shop by seamlessly interacting with their connected devices using spoken language. This team as part of the Emerging Technologies group builds new multimodal experiences both in-house and in collaboration with strategic partners. We have launched experiences like AskSam for associates and Walmart Voice Order for customers -( https://medium.com/walmartglobaltech/building-a-conversational-assistant-platform-for-voice-enabled-shopping-6d174cdc4131 ). In addition to the end-user experiences the group also builds platform APIs and tools to enable other teams within Walmart to build and scale experiences using these next-generation technologies. As part of this Conversational AI platform team, we are looking for a full stack Principal Software engineer for building the web tool to configure different applications and their interactions with the platform. What you will do: Stay abreast with technical advancements and drive system architecture and software development processes. Lead and mentor teams in the implementation of complex systems, fostering a culture of technical excellence and innovation. Be hands-on in prototyping, researching, and coding scalable, consumer-facing systems. Collaborate with business and product teams to achieve our long-term business goals. Champion operational and engineering excellence. Participate in code reviews, operational reviews, architectural discussions, and troubleshooting sessions to ensure the highest standards of development. Provide mentorship to engineers, managers, and others to help develop great talent. What you'll bring: At least 15 years of software engineering experience in building highly available systems. Proven track record of building successful software systems from inception to deployment. Proven track record of building solutions that solve highly complex business problems. Outstanding problem-solving skills, with the ability to make design trade-offs, balancing long-term "big picture" considerations with short-term implications of design decisions. Expertise in distributed systems, service-oriented architecture, CI/CD, and operational excellence best practices. Effective communication and collaboration skills, including consensus building, conflict resolution, influence, and persuasion skills. Proven track record of mentoring and coaching engineers in technical problem-solving and career development. Curiosity and strong ability to learn new domains and technologies. BS or MS in CS 15 years of experience GenAI technologies such as LLMs and RAG. Cloud-based AI platforms like GCP Vertex AI or Azure. Programming languages, particularly Java. Data engineering and handling large datasets. Databases, including vector and big data technologies. Distributed computing, containerization (Docker/K8s), and multi-cloud. Typical qualifications include a degree in a related field or equivalent experience, significant software engineering experience with a focus on AI/ML and GenAI, expertise in scalable systems and cloud deployments, proficiency in Java, experience with GenAI models and related concepts, a history of leading complex projects, experience with Distributed Systems, Databases, BigQuery, a solid understanding of software engineering principles, and strong communication and leadership skills Medium Building a conversational assistant platform for voice-enabled shopping At Walmart Labs, we strive to help our customers save money and time and are always exploring cutting-edge solutions to achieve this goal… Reading time 4 min read https://medium.com/walmartglobaltech/building-a-conversational-assistant-platform-for-voice-enabled-shopping-6d174cdc4131 About Walmart Global Tech: Imagine working in an environment where one line of code can make life easier for hundreds of millions of people. Thats what we do at Walmart Global Tech. Were a team of software engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity experts and service professionals within the worlds 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. 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 ? ? ? ? ? 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 1375 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.

Keywords: Walmart, Napa , Principal, Software Engineer, IT / Software / Systems , Fremont, California