Lead Data Scientist - Search and Browse (NLP, LLMs, Information Retrieval)

JOIN TARGET AS A LEAD DATA SCIENTIST – SEARCH AND BROWSE

The pay range is $126,600.00 - $273,500.00

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

About Us:

As a Fortune 50 company with more than 350,000 team members worldwide, Target is an iconic brand and one of America's leading retailers.

Working at Target means the opportunity to help all families discover the joy of everyday life. Caring for our communities is woven into who we are, and we invest in the places we collectively live, work and play. We prioritize relationships, develop talent by creating growth opportunities and succeed as one Target team. At our core, our purpose is ingrained in who we are, what we value and how we work. It’s how we care, grow, and win together. Every time a guest enters a Target store or browses Target.com, they experience the impact of Target’s investments in technology and innovation. We’re the technologists behind one of the most loved retail brands, delivering joy to millions of our guests, team members, and communities.

Join our global in-house Tech team of more than 5,000 software engineers, applied data scientists, architects and product managers striving to make Target the most convenient, safe and joyful place to shop. We use agile practices and leverage open-source software to adapt and build best-in-class technology for our team members and guests. We do so with a focus on diversity and inclusion, experimentation and continuous learning.

The Search and Browse Applied Data Science team builds the core relevance engine and Data Science products that power Target’s Digital experience.

In this role at Target as a Lead Data Scientist, you’ll:

• Develop and deploy scalable deep learning models to improve the search experience of guests
• 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 machine learning 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
• 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:

• 4-year degree in Quantitative disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) or equivalent experience
• MS/PhD in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Physics or equivalent work or industry experience
• Research and/or demonstrated industry experiences in Search Indexing, Information Retrieval, Ranking as well as NLP, LLMs or Recommendation Systems
• 5+ years of experience in deploying machine learning algorithms into production environments
• Proficient in Python or Java with excellent coding and problem-solving skills
• Exceptional hands-on modeling skills using Python
• Extensive experience in implementing and integrating ML models in production with high traffic and scale
• Experience querying large databases with SQL, HQL, or some variation
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills that can partner with a global team
• Constant learner mentality that stays on the leading edge of Search/Ranking, ML and NLP advancements

Bonus Points:

• PhD in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Physics or related quantitative field
• Proven record of achieving significant engineering (applied ML) or academic research in Search/Ranking
• Experience with Solr at scale

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Target will provide reasonable accommodations with the application process upon your request as required to comply with applicable laws. If you have a disability and require assistance in this application process, please visit your nearest Target store or Supply Chain Facility or reach out to Guest Services at for additional information.