(USA) Principal, Data Scientist

Position Summary...

What you'll do...

As a Principal Data Scientist, you will be the senior individual contributor driving the science and platform foundations for Sam’s Club’s centralized testing and measurement program. Reporting to the Director of Testing & Measurement, you will architect and ship core components of a single experimentation and measurement platform, launch self-serve capabilities that enable most partners to run rigorous studies independently, and personally lead the most complex ~20% of designs where expert judgment is required. Starting with inclub measurement , you’ll set the bar for scientific rigor, build reusable libraries and guardrails, and translate ambiguous problems into confident, highimpact decisions. 

What You’ll Do   

• Establish the scientific standard  
  Inventory current experimentation practices, KPIs, and data sources; define a shared taxonomy and a Testing & Measurement Playbook (experiment types, MDE/power guidance, preregistration templates, readout standards, guardrails). 

• Design core platform components  
  Partner with Engineering to define and begin implementing key services and libraries: variant assignment/bucketing, experiment registry schemas, metrics computation layer, A/A health checks , MDE/power calculators , variancereduction utilities (e.g., CUPED ), sequential testing controls, and reproducibility tooling. 

• Launch selfserve experimentation  
  Deliver guided workflows that allow ~80% of standard tests to run without DS intervention (preregistration, sizing, guardrails, standardized readouts). Train PM/Ops partners; seed a community of practice. 

• Lead highstakes inclub designs (pilot → scale)  
  Own the design and analysis for complex inclub initiatives (e.g., operational changes with spillovers, geo rollouts, merchandising resets), selecting and validating appropriate methods (RCTs, diffindiff , synthetic controls , stratified matching, geospatial clustering). 

• Institutionalize rigor & governance (ongoing)  
  Enforce preregistered hypotheses, success/stop criteria, guardrails (member experience, ops impacts), and proper multipletesting and sequential controls; publish reproducible notebooks and code for every readout. 

• Advance the metrics layer & decision quality  
  Define and implement a unified metrics catalog/semantic layer (definitions, windows, filters, seasonality/traffic normalization, club clustering). 

• Mentor and elevate the craft  
  Lead code reviews, design reviews, brownbag sessions; build exemplars (notebooks, libraries, docs) that raise the bar for the team and community. 

• Champion privacy, compliance, and auditability  
  Embed identity, privacy, and legal considerations into assignment, data joins, and reporting; ensure full audit trails. 
   

What You’ll Bring  

• Causal Inference & Experimentation Depth: Mastery of RCTs and quasiexperimental methods (diffindiff, synthetic controls, matched/stratified designs, interrupted time series), power/MDE analysis , sequential testing control, heterogeneity analysis, and variance reduction (e.g., CUPED). 

• Platform level Engineering Mindset: Experience architecting or scaling experimentation/measurement platforms (assignment services, experiment registry, metrics pipelines, readout services, observability), with strong collaboration alongside engineering. 

• Hands-on Technical Skills: Deep proficiency in Python for machine learning and statistical modeling, with strong experience using ML frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn) and data manipulation libraries (e.g., Pandas, NumPy). Skilled in SQL for feature engineering and large-scale data extraction. Committed to production-grade practices including code quality, automated testing, reproducibility, and model lifecycle management (MLOps). 

• InClub/Physical Retail Measurement Advantage: Practical approaches to traffic normalization, seasonality/weather shocks, operational spillovers, and club clustering/geospatial matching. 

• Business Acumen & Communication: Ability to distill noisy signals into concise, decisionoriented narratives and influence senior stakeholders with clarity and credibility. 

• Leadership Without Authority: Track record of mentoring, setting scientific standards, and driving adoption of consistent practices across multiple teams. 

• Education: BS/MS/PhD in a quantitative field (Statistics, Economics, Computer Science, etc.) or equivalent experience. 

At Sam's Club, we offer competitive pay as well as performance-based bonus awards and other great benefits for a happier mind, body, and wallet!

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- Health benefits include medical, vision and dental coverage

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- Financial benefits include 401(k), stock purchase and company-paid life insurance

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- Paid time off benefits include PTO, parental leave, family care leave, bereavement, jury duty, and voting. 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.

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For information about PTO, see

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- Other benefits include short-term and long-term disability, company discounts, Military Leave Pay, adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, and more.

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Live Better U is a company 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.

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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.

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For information about benefits and eligibility, see One.Walmart.

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The annual salary range for this position is $110,000.00-$220,000.00

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Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses.

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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: Bachelors degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 5 years' experience in an analytics related field. Option 2: Masters degree in Statistics, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or related field and 3 years' experience in an analytics related field. Option 3: 7 years' experience in an 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 science, machine learning, optimization models, PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Information Technology, Operations Research, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Econometrics, Publications or active peer reviewer in related journals or conference, Successful completion of one or more assessments in Python, Spark, Scala, or R, Using open source frameworks (for example, scikit learn, tensorflow, torch), 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...

2101 Se Simple Savings Dr, Bentonville, AR , 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.