Walmart is trying to transform itself from America’s grocery store into a global tech titan and is reshaping its workforce in the process.
The 63-year-old company has been the largest retailer in the world for decades, and has held the top spot on the Fortune 500 list since 2013. But it has also invested heavily over the last several years in becoming a powerhouse of e-commerce and retail media.
Salary data shows how serious Walmart is about competing with the likes of Amazon, Facebook, and Google for talent to beef up its tech.
Company filings with the US Department of Labor show Walmart sought to hire around 1,750 workers through the US H-1B visa program in the first half of this reporting year, largely in software development, business intelligence, and IT. That number is up substantially from about 1,100 for the same period two years before.
This publicly available work visa data — which companies are required to disclose to the government — only refers to foreign hires and doesn’t include equity or other benefits that employees can receive in addition to their base pay.
A Walmart spokesperson said the company’s compensation packages include salary, bonus opportunities, and stock awards, and that it invests in employees’ career growth.
Still, the reported pay rates are benchmarked against industry standards for US workers. That can shed light on how much Walmart employees earn in certain roles, and where the company is looking to grow.
Walmart boasts a global workforce of 2.1 million people, of whom about 1.6 million are in the US, making it the largest private employer in both cases.
More than two-thirds of the company’s 45,000 open positions worldwide as of July 23 are for jobs in Walmart stores and Sam’s Club warehouses, while about 550 openings are tech and analyst roles.
The company has been expanding in tech, hiring in July a new EVP of AI acceleration, product and design who reports directly into the CEO and recruiting for an EVP of AI platforms.
Other employers, including Amazon, submit work visa data, and Walmart’s salaries are largely in line with those for similar roles at the e-commerce giant.
Most of Walmart’s white-collar jobs are based either in its Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters or in one of the company’s satellite offices in the Bay Area. According to the H-1B data, about half of the positions are in Bentonville, while a third are in California, and most of the remainder are assigned to sites in Texas, New Jersey, Washington, and Virginia.
Here’s a deeper look at some of the roles and their annual base salaries:
Software engineers can earn up to $286,000
Software Engineer III: $99,244 to $234,000
Senior Software Engineer: $115,167 to $234,000
Staff, Software Engineer: $127,292 to $286,000
Principal Software Engineer: $152,027 to $286,000
Many IT project managers start at $121,000
Senior Product Manager: $121,000 to $286,000
Staff Product Manager: $136,500 to $286,000
Principal Product Manager: $145,332 to $286,000
Data scientists can make more than $108,000
Senior Data Scientist: $127,304 to $234,000
Staff Data Scientist: $138,333 to $286,000
Principal, Data Scientist: $158,642 to $286,000
Marketers and UX designers can pull up to $234,000
Senior Design Researcher: $142,002 to $234,000
Senior Manager, Product Marketing: $154,357 to $234,000
Director, Advertising Sales: $229,477
Senior UX Designer: $155,000 to $234,000
Senior Manager, UX Design: $183,227 to $286,000
Team leaders can take home more than $300,000
Director, Software Engineering: $190,486 to $312,000
Director, Data Science: $188,885 to $338,000
Distinguished Architect: $184,827 to $338,000
Director, Product Management: $201,323 to $338,000
Senior Director, Product Management: $208,000 to $416,000
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