Position Summary...What you'll do...About the Team The Catalog Solutions and Governance team defines how product data is ingested, structured, and validated across Walmart's global catalog. We operate at the intersection of product, engineering, and data, owning the foundational models that power item setup, discoverability, compliance, and downstream decisioning across the enterprise.
We are transforming how product data works at scale. Our focus is on building durable, shared data models that replace rigid, manually maintained structures with dynamic, rules-driven, and AI-enabled systems. When we get the model right, teams across Walmart move faster. When we don't, everything downstream feels it.
About the Role As Senior Manager, Data Engineering, you will own the design, integrity, and evolution of Walmart's product data models as a shared platform used by many teams across the company. This role is responsible for how product data is modeled, validated, and operationalized across systems, with a strong emphasis on scalability, correctness, and downstream impact.
While your team will partner closely with engineers who build pipelines, success in this role is defined by the quality and durability of the data models others depend on. You will operate in a high-blast-radius environment where modeling decisions affect APIs, analytics, machine learning, item setup experiences, and customer-facing products.
What You'll Do - Own product data models end to end: Design and evolve schemas, classification structures, attribute frameworks, and modifier models that support item setup, enrichment, and downstream consumption.
- Work hands-on with data: Query and analyze large datasets to validate models, test assumptions, identify edge cases, and assess the impact of proposed changes using SQL, BigQuery, Python, or similar tools.
- Design for scale and reuse: Build data models intended to serve many consumers with differing needs, rather than one-off solutions optimized for a single team or use case.
- Think in systems and flows: Understand how product data moves through ingestion pipelines, storage layers, APIs, and analytical environments, and design models that hold up across that lifecycle.
- Own modeling and schema trade-offs: Make and document decisions that balance semantic correctness, backward compatibility, operational complexity, and speed of delivery.
- Evaluate and approve modeling solutions: Serve as a senior reviewer and sign-off point for schema and data model proposals, ensuring long-term integrity and consistency.
- Translate ambiguity into durable structure: Turn unclear or competing business needs into clear data models and classification logic grounded in real data behavior.
- Enable automation and intelligence: Design models that support rules engines, ML-driven classification, and derived attributes rather than manual intervention.
- Drive data quality and simplification: Use analysis to identify fragmentation, duplication, and legacy debt, and lead efforts to normalize and improve product data at scale.
- Act as a platform steward: Treat the data model as a product, with clear contracts, stability expectations, and consideration for downstream consumers.
- Lead and develop technical talent: Manage and mentor a team of data engineers and analysts, setting expectations for strong data fluency, systems thinking, and ownership.
- Represent data model integrity: Serve as a senior voice in schema and platform decisions, ensuring alignment between business intent, taxonomy frameworks, and technical feasibility.
You'll Sweep Us Off Our Feet If You... - Have worked on shared data platforms or foundational systems used by many teams.
- Are comfortable getting into the data yourself to answer questions and validate decisions.
- Think beyond the happy path and design for failure modes, data drift, and partial adoption.
- Can clearly explain complex data and modeling trade-offs to both technical and business audiences.
- Care deeply about long-term system health, not just short-term delivery.
- Appreciate taxonomy and classification as essential inputs to good data engineering, even if you didn't start your career in that space.
What You'll Bring - 7+ years of experience in data engineering, data modeling, data architecture, or a related technical discipline.
- Strong experience querying and analyzing large datasets using SQL and analytical platforms such as BigQuery.
- Working knowledge of Python or similar languages for data analysis, validation, or prototyping.
- Experience partnering with product managers, engineers, and data scientists on complex, data-driven systems.
- Proven ability to lead teams through system modernization or large-scale data transformations.
- Sound judgment around modeling trade-offs, scalability, and long-term maintainability.
- (Preferred) Experience with product catalogs, classification systems, schema-driven platforms, or ML-enabled data systems.
Why Walmart This role offers a rare opportunity to shape the data foundations behind one of the largest and most complex product catalogs in the world. Your decisions will influence how teams across Walmart build experiences, apply intelligence, and operate at scale. If you enjoy working on foundational systems with real-world impact and meaningful complexity, this is the place to do it.
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
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 :
- Stock
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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 and 5 years' experience in software engineering or related field. Option 2: 7 years' experience in software engineering or related field. Option 3: Master's degree in Computer Science and 3 years' experience in software engineering or related field.
4 years' experience in data engineering, database engineering, business intelligence, or business analytics.
1 year's supervisory experience.
Preferred Qualifications...Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.
Data engineering, database engineering, business intelligence, or business analytics, ETL tools and working with large data sets in the cloud, Master's degree in Computer Science or related field and 5 years' experience in software engineering or related field, 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...601 Respect Dr, Bentonville, AR 72716, 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.