Sr Data Scientist - Mar Tech (Applied ML, Recommender Systems, Reinforcement Learning)

The pay range is $98,000.00 - $176,000.00

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.

JOIN TARGET AS A SR DATA SCIENTIST - MAR TECH

About us:

Working at Target means helping all families discover the joy of everyday life. We bring that vision to life through our values and culture. Learn more about Target here.    

A role with Target Data Sciences means the chance to help develop and manage state of the art predictive algorithms that use data at scale to automate and optimize decisions at scale. Whether you join our Data Sciences or Machine Learning teams, you’ll be challenged to harness Target’s impressive data breadth to build the algorithms that power solutions our partners in Marketing, Supply Chain, Demand Forecasting, Search and Personalization rely on.    

Every Scientist on Target’s Data Sciences team can expect modeling and data science, software/product development of highly performant code for Model Performance to elevate Target’s culture, and apply retail domain knowledge.

The MarTech Data Science teams are building the foundational, guest-centric Science products that power Target's Guest Messaging Platform. We are core partners for identifying Science and Technology capabilities that shape the product strategies. As a Sr Data Scientist on this team, you will have the opportunity to develop AI models and integrate them into our messaging platform to orchestrate customized, timely, and relevant messages for our guests. We promote innovative thinking within the ambiguous environment of this emerging capability and utilizing cutting-edge machine learning algorithms and GenAI techniques to improve our Guest Messaging Platform at Target!

As a Sr Data Scientist, you will influence by interacting within the Data Sciences team and with Product teams, perform within the scale and scope of your role by implementing solutions, and contribute to Data Sciences’ and Target’s culture by modeling the culture. Through your understanding of the foundations and working principles of machine learning algorithms, linear algebra, probability theory, statistics, and optimization theory, you will perform data exploration and analysis (look at distributions, find anomalies, create simple visualizations, etc.) and implement algorithmic solution given specifications, while adhering to best practices in model development. We will look to you to understand and actively follow foundational programming principles (best practices, know about unit tests, code organization, basics of CI/CD etc.) and create a well-maintainable & tested codebase with relevant documentation. You will get the opportunity to develop in one or more approved programming languages (Python, Scala, R), and learn and adhere to best practices in data analysis and data understanding.

As you follow agile processes, you will implement prototypes for individual components of software or data science solutions and understand and leverage basic data structures and algorithms in implementing solutions. You will evaluate multiple specified techniques for a defined problem and determine the most appropriate option from a performance perspective.

Leverage your high-level understanding in business domain to gain knowledge of high-level Target business priorities, strategic goals and their impact, as well as details of the specific business sub-problem you are focused on. You will collaborate with peers on their product and provide technical support, and document and present work to peers, and participate in code reviews and gain broader understanding of different components within the application. The exciting part of retail? It’s always changing! 

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
• PhD/MS in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Data Sciences or relevant industry experience
• 3 plus years of demonstrated experience developing ML models and algorithms into production with a focus on Optimization, Recommender Systems and/or Reinforcement Learning at scale
• Demonstrated programming proficiency in at least one language with a willingness to move between various languages to complete projects (Python, R, Scala, Kotlin, Java)
• Extensive experience working in Big Data systems (Hadoop, Hive, PySpark).
• Working knowledge and experience with cloud AI/ML platforms
• Passion for solving relevant real-world problems using a data science approach
• Strong analytical thinking skills with an ability to creatively solve business problems, innovating new approaches where required
• Excellent communication skills with an ability to clearly tell data driven stories through appropriate visualizations, graphs and narratives
• Able to produce reasonable documents and narrative suggesting actionable insights
• Self-driven and results oriented - able to meet tight timelines
• Strong team player with ability to collaborate effectively across geographies/time zones

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 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. Click here if you are curious to learn more about Minnesota.

Benefits Eligibility

Please paste this url into your preferred browser to learn about benefits eligibility for this role: https://tgt.biz/BenefitsForYou_D

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

In compliance with state and federal laws, Target will make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please reach out to [email protected]. Non-accommodation-related requests, such as application follow-ups or technical issues, will not be addressed through this channel.  

Application deadline is : 03/29/2026