The largest supermarket and private employer in the U.S., Wal-mart Stores Inc. has set its footprint this year at the Global Women in Data Science Conference with a mission: Hire more women.

The former lead to data science at Walmart, Esteban Arcaute, was looking into how to expand the leverage of data and to recruit more women in data science – and an idea clicked. He connected with Margot Gerritsen, co-chair of the Global Women in Data Science Conference, on their sponsorship this year, explained Vijay Raghavendra, senior vice president of merchant technology at ‎Walmart Labs.

“The reason why we are so excited about women in data science and why getting that perspective is so important, is, we are in the retail business, and our customers really span the entire spectrum,” Raghavendra said. “A lot of women shop at Walmart, a lot of moms, a lot of Millennials … our workforce needs to reflect our customers.”

Raghavendra spoke with Lisa Martin (@LuccaZara), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Global Women in Data Science Conference in Stanford, California. They discussed the strategy of data scientists for Walmart’s $500 billion business in 2018.

Spotlight on Walmart’s women

The push for more female workers at Walmart is in line with broader improvements from the retailer, including a recent wage increase to $11.00 per hour and the expansion of  maternity and parental leave benefits. Walmart also added a one-time cash bonus for eligible associates of up to $1,000.

Despite such efforts, Walmart’s female employees still lag behind on the corporate ladder, where 53 percent of manager positions and 84 percent of the director-level job descriptions skew male, according to Fortune.

Walmart has also been sued a number of times for worker discrimination; with cases of family unfriendly scheduling, wage discrimination among women, and under representation of women in management positions. Raghavendra said that data science jobs opens new business models and opportunities on the career front for women.

“They want to builds products that customers can relate to as well,” Raghavendra said of Walmart’s long-term goals to weave data science into multiple areas of the company.

Data science is a mix of technical and communication skills, Raghavendra explained. “To me, some of the technical skills, the grounding in math and analytics are table stakes,” he added. “For us data science is not a function that is sitting on the side. There are engineers, product managers, business teams, data scientists all working collaboratively together.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Global Women in Data Science Conference. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Women in Data Science Conference. Neither Stanford University, the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE