The pay range is $132,000.00 - $286,000.00
Pay is based on several factors which vary based on position. These include labor markets and in some instances may include education, work experience and certifications. In addition to your pay, Target cares about and invests in you as a team member, so that you can take care of yourself and your family. Target offers eligible team members and their dependents comprehensive health benefits and programs, which may include medical, vision, dental, life insurance and more, to help you and your family take care of your whole selves. Other benefits for eligible team members include 401(k), employee discount, short term disability, long term disability, paid sick leave, paid national holidays, and paid vacation. Find competitive benefits from financial and education to well-being and beyond at https://corporate.target.com/careers/benefits.
As a Lead Applied Data Scientist - Search and Browse you'll: - Develop and deploy scalable deep learning models to improve the search experience of guests
- Use LLM and agentic technologies to improve ecommerce search experience
- Architect and implement large-scale AI systems using test-driven development practices
- Build NLP technology for query and document analysis, processing, and understanding
- Create data pipelines for feature/label extraction and generation
- Conduct data analysis to identify opportunities and improve models
- Conduct research to advance the state-of-the-art ML, LLM, and NLP technologies
- Contributing to the operations/building of AI pipelines
- Adopting Target's infrastructural platforms and operationalize tools and systems around them
- Mentor and partner with other engineers to develop software that meets business needs
- Collaborate effectively with product and business partners to define and scope solutions
- Follow agile methodology for software development and technical documentation
- Innovate constantly and keep systems up to date with current technologies
Core responsibilities of this job are described within this job description. Job duties may change at any time due to business needs.
About you: - PhD or MS in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Physics or equivalent work or industry experience
- Research or industry experiences in search indexing, information retrieval or ranking
- Demonstrated experience in NLP, LLMs, agentic systems or recommendation systems at scale
- 5+ years of experience in deploying machine learning algorithms into production environments with good ML Ops experience
- Proficient in Python or Java with excellent coding and problem-solving skills
- Exceptional hands-on modeling skills using Python
- Extensive experience implementing and integrating ML models in production in high traffic/scale
- Experience querying large databases with SQL, HQL, or some variation
- Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills for partnering with global teams
- Self-driven and results-oriented, with strong ownership, sound judgment and the ability to move quickly while maintaining high technical standard
- Collaborative team player with a commitment to continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and building reliable AI systems that create business value
This position will operate as a Hybrid/Flex for Your Day work arrangement based on Target's needs. A Hybrid/Flex for Your Day work arrangement means the team member's core role will need to be performed both onsite at the Target HQ Sunnyvale, CA or MN location the role is assigned to and virtually, depending upon what your role, team and tasks require for that day. Work duties cannot be performed outside of the country of the primary work location, unless otherwise prescribed by Target.
Application deadline is : 09/10/2026
