Position Summary...

As a Principal Software Engineer on the AI Safety team within Information Security, you will be the technical and strategic anchor for how Walmart evaluates, governs, and safely operates AI systems at enterprise scale. You will define the standards, build the reference implementations, and serve as the trusted authority on AI Safety across product, engineering, legal, and executive stakeholders.

You are a hands-on engineering leader who also thinks in frameworks. You can write production code and you can write policy. You understand what AI systems can do, what they can do wrong, and what governance structures need to exist.

About the team:

The AI Security team within Information Security integrates cybersecurity, generative AI, and governance to enhance organizational protection and secure AI systems. We are expanding our scope to include AI Safety — the discipline focused on ensuring AI systems behave responsibly, fairly, and as intended across their lifecycle. This encompasses bias and fairness evaluation, output reliability governance, human oversight architecture for agentic systems, regulatory compliance, and organizational AI fluency. As Principal, you will shape this capability from the ground up.

What you'll do...

• Define AI Safety standards and controls — develop, own, and continuously evolve Walmart's AI Safety standards, covering model evaluation criteria, bias and fairness requirements.
• Architect the AI Safety program — design the end-to-end operating model for AI Safety at Walmart
• Review AI projects and architectures for safety gaps — assess internal AI deployments and planned implementations for safety risks, and drive mitigations.
• Lead AI Safety governance — define the human oversight architecture for AI systems, including autonomy thresholds for agentic AI.
• Represent AI Safety posture to leadership — communicate program status, emerging risks, and strategic priorities to senior and executive leadership.

What you'll bring:

• AI Safety Domain Expertise - Deep knowledge of AI failure modes, safety evaluation methodology, and responsible AI governance.
• AI/ML Technical Depth - Hands-on experience with machine learning development, model deployment, and MLOps. Strong working knowledge of LLMs and generative AI systems
• Regulatory and Frameworks Fluency - Demonstrated ability to operationalize AI risk management frameworks.
• Cross-Functional Communication and Influence - Proven ability to communicate complex technical risk to non-technical audiences including legal, compliance, and executive stakeholders.
• Agentic AI Understanding - Working knowledge of AI agent architectures — systems that take sequences of real-world actions with limited human intervention.

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 $110,000.00 - $220,000.00 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, information technology, engineering, information systems, cybersecurity, or related area and 5years’ experience in software engineering or related area at a technology, retail, or data-driven company.

Option 2: 7 years’ experience in software engineering or related area at a technology, retail, or data-driven company.

Preferred Qualifications...

Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.

Certification in Security+, GISF, CISSP, CCSP, or GSEC, Master’s degree in computer science, information technology, engineering, information systems, cybersecurity or related area and 3 years’ experience leading information security or cybersecurity projects, 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...

805 Se Moberly Ln, Bentonville, AR 72712, 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.