Principal Data Engineer

Principal Data Engineer

Company Overview:

This role will shape and evolve the enterprise-scale data platform architecture that powers AI agents, copilots, and large-scale analytics. Your work ensures reliability, semantic clarity, and enterprise-grade trust across Sam's Club's foundational data systems.

Role and Responsibilities of Principal Data Engineer:

You will define, architect, and guide the enterprise data platform strategy while enabling agentic and AI-ready systems. You will drive modernization, cross-domain alignment, and technical excellence to support large-scale analytics and autonomous decision-making.

• Architect and evolve core data platform strategy for batch, streaming, and hybrid systems.
• Establish and steward architectural standards for structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.
• Define enterprise patterns for agent-ready data, including RAG, real-time feature pipelines, vector indexing, and graph-augmented reasoning.
• Partner with Engineering, AI/ML, Product, and Platform teams to align roadmaps with long-term autonomous decision-making goals.
• Define standards for observability, telemetry, lineage, governance, and AI auditability across enterprise systems.
• Design resilient, fault-tolerant systems supporting millions of users and mission-critical operations.
• Lead modernization initiatives transforming traditional data lake systems into composable, event-driven, agent-aware platforms.
• Mentor Staff and Senior Engineers, lead design reviews, and steward architectural decisions across high-risk initiatives.

Required Skills and Experience of Principal Data Engineer:

• 10–15+ years building and evolving large-scale distributed data platforms.
• Proven experience shaping architecture across multiple domains or organizations.
• Cloud-native expertise in GCP or Azure (BigQuery, Dataflow, Pub/Sub, or equivalent).
• Deep experience in batch and streaming systems (Kafka, Spark Structured Streaming, Flink, Druid, etc.).
• Knowledge of hybrid real-time and analytical architectures.
• Strong engineering foundation in Python, Java, or Scala; Spark/PySpark and SQL optimization at scale.
• Experience designing data systems that support semantic modeling, embeddings, knowledge graphs, RAG, context enrichment, and agent orchestration.
• Advanced knowledge of data governance, quality frameworks, access control, lineage, compliance, and auditability.
• Ability to influence and align diverse stakeholders and drive architectural adoption across teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Computer Science or related field with 5 years' experience in software engineering or related field.
• Experience with ETL tools and large cloud-based datasets.
• Background in creating inclusive digital experiences, implementing WCAG 2.2 AA standards, and integrating assistive technologies.

Compensation and Benefits of Principal Data Engineer:

• Annual salary range: $143,000 – $286,000, with additional performance-based bonuses.
• Regional Pay Zone (RPZ) may apply based on location.
• Health benefits including medical, vision, and dental coverage.
• Financial benefits including 401(k), stock purchase, and company-paid life insurance.
• Paid time off including PTO, 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.
• Live Better U education benefits covering high school completion, bachelor's degrees, English Language Learning, and short-form certificates.

About Sam's Club:

Walmart is committed to creating inclusive, diverse, and innovative workplaces where associates can thrive. We value integrity, technical excellence, and collaboration, empowering our teams to deliver high-quality, AI-driven data platforms that drive the company’s strategic initiatives and customer impact.

FAQ:

Q: What does a Principal Data Engineer do?

A: A Principal Data Engineer designs and implements large-scale data systems, ensures data reliability, and supports analytics and business intelligence initiatives.

Q: Is Data Engineer a senior role?

A: Yes, it is a senior-level position responsible for leading data architecture, mentoring teams, and driving enterprise-wide data solutions.

Q: What skills are required for a Data Engineer?

A: Key skills include data modeling, ETL development, cloud platforms, big data technologies, and programming in SQL, Python, or Java.

Q: What qualifications are needed to become a Data Engineer?

A: Most roles require a degree in computer science or a related field, along with extensive experience in data engineering and large-scale systems.

Q: Is a Data Engineer job stressful?

A: The role can be demanding due to high-impact data responsibilities, technical complexity, and cross-team coordination.