iStock.com/Alexander Farnsworth
May 29, 2025
Where Is Walmart Likely Facing a Tech Skills Gap?
Walmart revealed last week that it’s eliminating about 1,500 jobs across technology functions and U.S. operations, adding to the waves of recent layoffs seen in the tech space as GenAI recasts roles and skill requirements.
The job cuts, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal, are designed to simplify operations.
In an internal memo, Suresh Kumar, global CTO and chief development officer, and John Furner, Walmart U.S. president and CEO, said that within Global Tech and Walmart U.S. organizations, said, “We have identified opportunities to remove layers and complexity, speed up decision-making, and help associates innovate rapidly. We are eliminating roles as well as opening some new roles aligned with our business priorities and growth strategy.”
More than 600,000 technology jobs have been cut in the U.S. since the start of 2022. The layoffs have been blamed on economic factors and over-hiring during the pandemic, but much of the recent cuts have been attributed to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
More than half of tech hiring managers (54%) expect their companies to conduct further layoffs within the next year, with 45% believing employees whose jobs can be replaced by AI/automation are most likely to be let go, according to a recent report from General Assembly.
Despite the layoff risks, 69% of hiring managers say advancements in AI are very likely to create demand for new roles, and 76% cite strong potential to upskill or reskill employees slated for layoffs. AI development, proficiency with AI tools, and cybersecurity are the most sought-after technical skills.
IT staffing provider Nash Squared’s 2025 Digital Leadership Report found that AI had become the world’s most in-demand tech skill, up from the sixth most-scarce tech skill the prior year, marking the “steepest rise” in the survey’s 26-year history. Other skills seeing jumps in demand include cybersecurity and automation, while demand for software engineers and enterprise architects “has dipped, partly due to AI helping bridge long-standing gaps in these areas,” according to Nash Squared.
Robert Half’s 2025 Building Future-Forward Tech Teams report found 76% of technology leaders reporting that a tech skills gap is evident in their department. The top six tech skills gaps were:
- AI, machine learning, and data science, cited by 44%
- IT operations and support, 39%
- Cybersecurity and privacy, 30%
- Technology process automation, 25%
- Software and web applications development, 22%
- Cloud architecture and operations, 20%
Robert Half wrote, “These are not fringe capabilities by any stretch. And as AI becomes embedded in nearly every business process and cloud environments continue to expand and become more complex, tech and business leaders are under increasing pressure to ensure their teams have the right skills — not tomorrow, but now.”
Discussion Questions
What obvious and less obvious tech skills gaps do you see within retail’s IT and tech departments?
Which tech functions do you see increasing and decreasing in importance for retailers?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Alex Walderman
Director of Business Development , SOLUM
Gene Detroyer
Professor, International Business, Guizhou University of Finance & Economics and University of Sanya, China.
Cathy Hotka
Principal, Cathy Hotka & Associates
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Why should we think WalMart is facing any tech skills “gap”? WalMart is one of the largest and most successful retailers – actually companies, period – in the world: they’re quite capable of filling any position they need to. (OTOH there are many struggling companies for which that cannot be said…and their inability will only increase their struggles).
I don’t agree Walmart is facing skills gaps. Walmart has a very competent operational team and is a retailer that has the pick of the bunch when it comes to recruiting people in technical fields – mainly because it such a powerhouse and is doing some really interesting things in technology.
Walmart’s willingness to embrace new technologies makes it a coveted employer. They consult with experts of all kinds. If Walmart snaps its fingers, tech talent will come running.
With Walmart’s recent RTHO (return to home office) mandate, workers not willing to put up with the boringness of Northwest Arkansas or the high cost of living in San Bruno are not keen to join the organization. Walmart is likely missing out on some great WFH talent that won’t relocate to one of the 2 aforementioned locations – whether or not this hurts them in the long run remains to be seen.
As technology advances, technical staff must adapt with it. And they will.
The more significant, game-changing, lasting technology advancements lead the IT community to educate themselves. AI falls in the category. SaaS and apps came before it. The list goes on.
The change in retail IT staffing should be to hire knowledge-based technical teams who are curious by nature. They’ll learn and master whatever new technology comes next because it’s how they’re wired.
Walmart is a preferred employer for retail technology. They are going to attract the brightest and the best. Not only because the company does really cool stuff in all of the spaces listed in the article, but also because having Walmart on your resume- a big plus.
I was somewhat surprised by the announcement of layoffs among IT workers. The U.S. is experiencing a widening tech skills gap. There is a mismatch between the skills required by employers and those possessed by the workforce, particularly in emerging technologies such as AI, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. This gap is affecting businesses across various industries, resulting in delays, quality issues, and revenue losses.
One wonders if the cutting of these jobs reflects the advancement of technology and the IT team’s inability to keep up with it. At the same time, will Walmart be looking for more competence in its IT employees? As a worldwide company, perhaps Walmart can find the talent overseas.
The role of technical enterprise and data architects that are versed in the strengths and current holes in AI are going to be the key to enterprise level success with AI. These people will be very hard to find. They will be the ones that can weigh the short term win vs the long term potential chaos that a disjointed approach to AI can bring. Most companies are searching for or training up this position.
WalMart is WalMart for a reason, and that reason is very competent senior leadership that successfully filters down throughout the organization. WM is a company that has successfully leveraged technology for many, many years and you do not accomplish that with a technical skills gap.
And Bentonville has been transformed from a backwater to someplace (almost? sorry, I am letting some snobbery show there!) desirable to live.
Why would anyone believe that the largest retailer in the world has any issue with their IT hiring seems contrary to real-life logic. Wal-Mart has no other specific hiring issues, what would make IT so difficult? Finding great talent has been a focus at Wal-Mart for years, and I cannot believe that they would be laying off specific talent as this article suggests. Now, there might be a number of employees that they lose every year to attrition, regardless of category, but pinpointing the IT department because of AI and the other reasons in this article seems contrary to real life.