Sr Applied Data Scientist - Personalization (applied ML, PyTorch, ML Ops)

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 instancesmay 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

JOIN TARGET AS A SR DATA SCIENTIST - RECOMMENDATIONS (RecSys)

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 withTargetData Sciencesmeans the chance to help develop and managestate of the art predictivealgorithmsthatuse data at scale to automateand optimize decisions at scale. Whether you join our Applied Data Sciences or Machine Learning teams, you'll be challenged to harness Target's impressive data breadth to build the algorithmsthat power solutions our partners in Digital Marketing, Supply Chain Optimization, Advanced AI, Search and Personalization/RecSys rely on.

As aSr Data Scientist,you'llwork on the Target Data Science Recommendations team collaborating with data scientists, machine learningengineersand product managers to build and augment our AI-driven digital Recommendation products. Through your understanding of deep learning, machine learning, linear algebra, probability theory, statistics, and optimizationyou'llperform data exploration and analysis, implement algorithmic solutions given specifications, push solutions to our production environment, andanalyze performance and trade-offs.Wewill expectyou to understand Agile principles, follow best-practice software design,participatein code reviews, createa maintainable and well-tested codebase with relevant documentation. On the business side,you'lldocument and present work to technical and non-technical peers, build knowledge on business priorities and strategic goals and leveragethis knowledge while building requirements and solutions for each businessneed.

Coreresponsibilities of this job are articulated within this job description. Job duties may change at any time due to businessneeds.

Aboutyou:

  • MS or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Operations Research or relevant work experience
  • 3 plus years of experience developing machine learning models using deep learning frameworks such asPyTorchor JAX
  • Experience building recommendation, personalization, search, ranking or retrieval systems at scale
  • Strong programming skills in Python and SQL
  • Demonstrated experience with optimization, statistics, probability and experimental design
  • Experience evaluating models through offline analysis on large-scale datasets and online experimentation, including statistical analysis and interpretation of results
  • Knowledge of large-scale data processing and analytics platforms such as Spark
  • Extensive experienceleveraginggenerative AI tools to accelerate development, experimentation and model delivery
  • Ability to communicate complex technical concepts and results to both technical and non-technical audiences
  • Demonstrated ability to translate business problems into scalable data science solutions
  • Self-driven, results-oriented and able to meet tight deadlines
  • Motivated team player who thrives in a collaborative - global environment

This position willoperateas 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. Clickhereif 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:

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 candidate.accommodations@HRHelp.Target.com. Non-accommodation-related requests, such as application follow-ups or technical issues, will not be addressed through this channel.

Application deadline is : 10/08/2026
Back to blog

Other Jobs To Apply

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...