(usa) Manager, Automation Engineering

Walmart · Retail · Bentonville, AR

Manager, Automation Engineering (Individual Contributor) at Walmart's Innovation Lab, focused on developing and deploying advanced robotics systems across the supply chain. The role operates across the full robotics stack, including perception, modeling, system integration, and field deployment, with a focus on VLA models and edge AI/ML deployment.

What you'd actually do

  1. Design, build, and deploy robotics systems in both lab and production environments
  2. Lead field deployment, testing, and debugging of robotic solutions
  3. Transition systems from prototype to scalable, production-ready deployments
  4. Develop and scale ROS / ROS2-based robotics architectures
  5. Build and optimize Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models for intelligent robot behavior

Skills

Required

  • C++
  • Python
  • ROS / ROS2
  • robotics computer vision
  • Perception & Sensor Fusion (LiDAR, cameras, RGB-D)
  • System-level robotics integration
  • Edge AI / ML deployment
  • Automation system design and integration

Nice to have

  • Vision-Language-Action (VLA) or multimodal AI systems
  • robotics startups or advanced R&D environments
  • supply chain automation or industrial robotics
  • engineering economics and business case development
  • Lean, Six Sigma, or Kaizen methodologies
  • mechatronics, controls systems, and CAD tools

What the JD emphasized

  • field deployment & debugging
  • ROS / ROS2 architecture and development
  • robotics computer vision
  • Vision-Language-Action (VLA)
  • AI/ML models on edge devices

Other signals

  • Develop and scale ROS / ROS2-based robotics architectures
  • Build and optimize Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models for intelligent robot behavior
  • Optimize and deploy AI/ML models on edge devices (GPUs/accelerators)
  • Develop robotics computer vision systems
  • Design multi-sensor fusion pipelines
  • Lead end-to-end system integration (perception → planning → control)