Lead Data Scientist, Recommendations (RL & Bandits) Remote

1114 Target Enterprise Inc; Minneapolis (MN); Hybrid; USD 132,000 - 238,000; Full time

Job summary

Target is seeking a Lead Data Scientist for Recommendations to drive machine learning systems powering guest experiences at scale. You will lead development, evaluation, and deployment of models, mentor peers, and collaborate with product and engineering teams.

You will work on ranking, retrieval, and personalization solutions, leveraging Python, SQL, PyTorch or JAX, and large-scale data processing frameworks. This role may be remote or hybrid in the U.S.

Qualifications

• PhD or MS in Computer Science, ML, Statistics, OR with 2+ years of industry experience; 5+ years in ML solutions for recommendations.
• Experience with reinforcement learning and contextual bandit design, implementation, evaluation.
• Strong programming in Python and SQL; deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or JAX.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, evaluation, and deployment of ML models for recommendations at scale.
• Mentor and develop other scientists; collaborate with product, engineering and data science teams.
• Translate business challenges into scalable ML solutions and drive measurable impact.

Skills

Python

SQL

Machine Learning

Reinforcement Learning

Contextual Bandits

Experimentation

Communication

Leadership

Education

PhD or MS in CS / ML / related quantitative field

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

Spark

SQL tooling

Job description

Target is seeking a Lead Data Scientist for Recommendations to drive machine learning systems powering guest experiences at scale. You will lead development, evaluation, and deployment of models, mentor peers, and collaborate with product and engineering teams.

You will work on ranking, retrieval, and personalization solutions, leveraging Python, SQL, PyTorch or JAX, and large-scale data processing frameworks. This role may be remote or hybrid in the U.S.