Principal Software Engineer Jobs in California

Position Summary...

What you'll do...

Role summary:
The (USA) Principal, Software Engineer leads the design and delivery of scalable platform capabilities, driving cloud-native architecture and AI/ML integration across multiple teams. This role oversees the full software development lifecycle, ensuring high availability, reliability, and performance of distributed systems. The position requires strategic technical leadership, mentorship, and collaboration with cross-functional stakeholders to align engineering efforts with business objectives. The Principal Engineer champions innovation, continuous improvement, and operational excellence while maintaining architectural integrity and fostering knowledge sharing within the organization.
About the team:
The BuyBox team plays a vital role in Walmart’s e-commerce platform by developing and maintaining a microservices ecosystem that optimizes offer selection using machine learning and business rules. The team focuses on enhancing offer ranking, ensuring seamless system interactions, and monitoring performance to address issues promptly. Emphasizing collaboration, technical expertise, and continuous innovation, the team drives operational excellence and supply chain efficiency. Utilizing agile methodologies and data-driven decision-making, the team supports Walmart’s commitment to reliable service and value, fostering a culture centered on problem solving and ongoing improvement.
What you'll do:

• Lead platform engineering efforts, delivering scalable infrastructure, reusable tooling, and AI/ML frameworks aligned with strategic roadmaps.
• Drive full software development lifecycle across multiple teams, ensuring high availability, fault tolerance, and real-time data processing.
• Architect and integrate intelligent AI-enhanced applications using cloud-native principles and model-driven design.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship, promoting engineering excellence and standardization across teams.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to define technical requirements and success metrics, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
• Foster continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to enhance processes, tools, and product quality.

What you'll bring:

• Extensive experience leading platform engineering initiatives, delivering scalable, cloud-native architectures and reusable tooling.
• Proven expertise in designing and implementing distributed systems optimized for real-time data processing and AI/ML integration.
• Strong proficiency in software development lifecycle management, including CI/CD pipelines, testing, and observability.
• Demonstrated ability to apply model-driven design and leverage AI agents to enhance software solutions.
• Skilled in mentoring engineers and influencing architectural decisions to promote maintainability and interoperability.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Commitment to continuous improvement, innovation, and technical excellence.

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 :

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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 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 or related field and 4 years' experience in software engineering or related field

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.