Group Director, Technical Program Management - Strategic Partnerships - AI Natives

Position Summary...

What you'll do...

About the Role: Walmart is building an AI-powered future of Commerce and Enterprise. We are seeking a Group Director of Strategic Partnerships to lead Walmart’s most strategic foundation-model partnerships, including OpenAI and Anthropic.
This leader will own the end-to-end partner relationships across consumer and enterprise use cases, translating frontier AI capabilities into differentiated consumer experiences and enterprise advantage at Walmart scale. Operating at the intersection of Product, Global Technology, and commercial strategy, you will shape joint roadmaps, structure and negotiate complex agreements, and drive execution across the enterprise. You will be the central point of accountability for ensuring these partnerships create durable value for Walmart while meeting our requirements for security, governance, reliability, and customer trust.
What You’ll Do:
Partnership Strategy and Business Development:

• Define and lead Walmart’s partnership strategy and multi-year roadmap with OpenAI and Anthropic, aligned to consumer product priorities, enterprise AI strategy, and Global Technology’s platform roadmap.
• Identify, evaluate, and prioritize opportunities across consumer AI experiences, agentic commerce, enterprise productivity, developer tooling, foundation-model access, and new technical capabilities.
• Develop executive-ready recommendations that clarify strategic value, tradeoffs, investment requirements, and buy, build, or partner implications.
• Track the foundation-model landscape and partner roadmaps to anticipate market shifts, influence priority areas, and surface opportunities or risks early.

Deal Structuring and Negotiation:

• Lead end-to-end deal execution, from exploratory discussions and internal alignment through term sheets, commercial negotiation, contract execution, and renewal strategy.
• Structure complex agreements involving model access, API and platform integrations, capacity and commercial commitments, data rights, intellectual property, security, privacy, governance, co-development, and go-to-market collaboration.
• Partner closely with Legal, Privacy, Information Security, Procurement, Finance, and Global Technology to build scalable deal constructs that protect Walmart while enabling speed and innovation.
• Lead partner negotiations with senior external stakeholders and secure alignment with internal executive decision-makers.

Partnership Development and Execution:

• Convert strategic agreements into measurable business outcomes by leading joint plans, operating cadences, success metrics, and escalation paths with OpenAI and Anthropic.
• Drive cross-functional execution of launches, integrations, pilots, and co-development initiatives across consumer and enterprise use cases.
• Establish governance and performance-management mechanisms that ensure commitments are delivered, technical and operational dependencies are resolved, and Walmart realizes the intended value of each partnership.
• Identify and remove execution barriers across teams, balancing partner momentum with Walmart’s standards for reliability, responsible AI, and customer trust.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Lead highly matrixed teams across Product, Global Technology, eCommerce, Enterprise Technology, Data Governance, Legal, Privacy, Procurement, Finance, Marketing, and business stakeholders.
• Serve as a trusted thought partner to product and technology leaders, bringing external market perspective and partner insight into product, platform, and investment decisions.
• Create clarity and alignment across internal stakeholders on priorities, roles, dependencies, and decisions required to advance each partnership.

Executive and Partner Leadership:

• Serve as the primary relationship owner for OpenAI and Anthropic, building trusted relationships with their product, engineering, commercial, and executive leaders.
• Represent Walmart’s strategic priorities externally and bring a clear point of view on how the partners can help advance Walmart’s consumer and enterprise AI agenda.
• Prepare senior leaders for key partner engagements and provide concise, actionable updates on performance, opportunities, risks, and decisions.

What You’ll Bring:

• 15+ years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, corporate development, product strategy, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience negotiating and managing the implementation and execution of complex commercial agreements with strategic technology partners.
• Proven track record of sourcing, structuring, and scaling enterprise-level partnerships that deliver measurable product, technology, or business impact.
• Demonstrated experience working with foundation-model providers, hyperscalers, AI-native companies, or leading technology platforms.
• Strong understanding of AI product and platform concepts, including foundation models, APIs, enterprise deployments, data and IP considerations, security, and responsible AI governance.
• Experience influencing and presenting to VP, SVP, C-suite, and external executive stakeholders.
• Ability to lead and influence highly matrixed cross-functional teams, manage ambiguity, and drive decisions and execution at scale.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, quantitative discipline, technology, or a related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience building partnerships that span both consumer-facing products and enterprise technology deployments.
• Background in retail, eCommerce, enterprise technology, consumer technology, digital advertising, marketplace platforms, or ecosystem businesses.
• Experience with global strategic partnerships, multi-party ecosystems, and technical co-development programs.

At Walmart, we offer competitive pay as well as performance-based bonus awards and other great benefits for a happier mind, body, and wallet. Health benefits include medical, vision and dental coverage. Financial benefits include 401(k), stock purchase and company-paid life insurance. Paid time off benefits include PTO (including sick leave), 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, and more. 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. For information about PTO, see https://one.walmart.com/notices. Live Better U is a Walmart-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.
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.
For information about benefits and eligibility, see One.Walmart.
The annual salary range for this position is $254,000.00 - $481,000.00 Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses. Additional compensation for certain positions may also include :
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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: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, engineering, or related area and 9 years’ experience in engineering, engineering program management, technical program management, product management, or related area.
• Option 2: 11 years’ experience in engineering, engineering program management, technical program management, product management, or related area.

Preferred Qualifications...

Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.

Certification in Project Management., Master’s degree in Business Administration, with specialization in strategy, supply chain, finance, information systems, or related area and 7 years’ experience in product design., Supervisory, 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...

850 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066-3031, 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.