Position Summary...What you'll do...The MissionAs a Principal Data Architect, you are the visionary designer of Sam's Club's
Cognitive Data Infrastructure. Your goal is to move beyond static data warehousing to build a
Semantic World Model-a unified, real time, and context aware layer that serves as the "source of truth" for intelligent agents. You will architect the frameworks that allow AI to not only retrieve data but to reason across it, maintain persistent memory, and execute complex business logic with precision.
What You'll Do - Architect the Semantic World Model: Lead the design of a global semantic layer that unifies structured, semi structured, and unstructured data into shared, context aware representations (Knowledge Graphs and Metadata Tensors) optimized for LLM reasoning.
- Design for Real Time State: Define the architecture for persistent agent memory and real time state management. Ensure agents have a seamless "mental model" that synchronizes a member's current session with their long term history across all channels.
- Establish the Tool-Calling Fabric: Transition the enterprise from "Data-as-a-Table" to "Data-as-a-Tool for Agentic Enablement" Design the architectural contracts and schemas that allow agents to call data products as executable functions with deterministic outcomes.
- Lead the Agentic Reference Architecture: Define and steward enterprise standards for Agent Ready Data. This includes creating reference patterns for GraphRAG (Graph-Augmented Generation), vector space optimization, and hierarchical ontology design.
- Enable Model-Agnostic Intelligence: Build a decoupled semantic interface that ensures our data strategy remains stable and performant regardless of the underlying LLM or agent framework being utilized.
- Architect Trust & Grounding: Design "Reasoning Guardrails" into the data layer. Ensure that the semantic architecture provides verifiable grounding for AI actions, minimizing hallucinations through strict policy enforcement and deterministic data paths.
- Strategic Influence & Modernization: Partner with Engineering, AI/ML, and Product leaders to drive an AI-native operating model. Lead the technical roadmap for modernizing legacy systems into composable, intelligent platforms.
What You'll Bring - 10-15+ years of experience in large scale distributed data architecture, with a proven track record of shaping enterprise level data strategies.
- Architectural Fluency in Agentic Systems: Deep expertise in the "Context Stack"-including Vector Databases, Enterprise Knowledge Graphs, and the orchestration of multi agent workflows.
- Semantic Mastery: Expert level knowledge of Ontology Engineering and Metadata Management. You understand how to mathematically represent business logic so it is computable by a model.
- Real Time Architecture Expertise: Deep understanding of real time event processing and how to blend high volume streaming data with analytical stores to provide agents with "Total Recall."
- Systems Thinking: Ability to reason about the trade-offs between latency, information density, and token cost when designing data structures for LLM context windows.
- Engineering Foundation: Strong hands on experience across the modern data and AI stack:
- Core & Distributed Systems: Python, Java, or Scala; Databricks, Spark, and BigQuery.
- Real Time & Streaming: Kafka, Druid, and streaming frameworks like Spark Structured Streaming, Kafka Connect, or Apache Flink.
- Agentic Frameworks & Protocols: MCP Server, LangChain/LangGraph, Prompt Engineering, and Multimodal AI.
- Orchestration & Semantics: Camunda for workflow logic, LookML for metrics modeling, and deep familiarity with GCP or Azure cloud native ecosystems.
- Leadership through Architecture: Demonstrated ability to align diverse stakeholders and influence technical direction across organizational boundaries without direct authority.
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 or related field and 5 years' experience in data engineering, solution architecture, business
intelligence, business analytics or related field. Option 2: 7 years' experience in data engineering, solution architecture, business intelligence,
business analytics or related field. Option 3: Master's degree in Computer Science and 3 years' experience in data engineering, solution
architecture, business intelligence, business analytics or related field.
Preferred Qualifications...Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.
Data architecture/software architecture/data modeling, Master's degree in Computer Science or related field and 5 years' experience in software engineering or related field, Relevant industry experience (for example, retail, supply chain, eCommerce, healthcare, etc.), Solution Architecture, 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...809 11th Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94089-4731, United States of America
