Lead ML Engineer - Advance AI (applied ML, LLM's, ML Ops)

Target; United States; Hybrid; USD 132,000 - 286,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401(k)

Employee discount

Short-term disability

Long-term disability

Paid sick leave

Paid national holidays

Paid vacation

Job summary

Target’s Advanced AI team seeks a Lead AI Engineer to design, build, and deploy AI/ML apps that deliver measurable business value across enterprise workflows.

You will mentor engineers, shape technical directions, and ensure secure, reliable production systems while collaborating with data scientists, product partners, and platform teams. Hybrid/remote options apply.

Qualifications

• 4-year degree in quantitative disciplines or equivalent experience.
• MS in CS/ML/AI or related field preferred.
• 5+ years of hands-on software engineering including production systems.
• Strong experience with Python and AI/ML frameworks and model APIs.
• Ability to translate business problems into technical AI solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, build, deploy, and maintain AI/ML applications across core workflows.
• Collaborate with Data Scientists, engineers, product partners, and security teams.
• Establish engineering practices, code quality, and production readiness.

Skills

Python

ML frameworks

LangChain

PyTorch

Cloud platforms

Education

MS in CS/ML/AI or related field

Tools

LangChain

LlamaIndex

Semantic Kernel

Job description

Salary

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.

Benefits

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
• paid vacation

Find competitive benefits from financial and education to well-being and beyond at https://corporate.target.com/careers/benefits.

About Target

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.

About the role

Target’s Advanced AI team builds end-to-end AI/ML systems that create meaningful business value across the enterprise. These systems may be powered by LLMs, classical machine learning, or deep learning models, and are designed as scalable, reliable, production-grade applications, including agentic architectures where they add clear value.

As a Lead AI Engineer for Advanced AI, you will help design, build, deploy, and maintain AI/ML applications that support automation, insight, and action across core business workflows. You will work closely with Data Scientists, engineers, product partners, platform teams, security teams, and business stakeholders to turn ambiguous business problems into practical, scalable technical solutions. In this role, you will provide hands‑on technical leadership for AI engineering initiatives. You will contribute to architecture and design decisions, evaluate appropriate models, frameworks, and tools, write maintainable production-quality code, and help establish strong engineering practices across development, testing, deployment, observability, documentation, and ongoing support. You will help ensure AI applications are secure, reliable, maintainable, and aligned to Target’s enterprise standards for infrastructure, platform architecture, data handling, and operational readiness. You will also partner with senior engineers and engineering leaders to shape technical approaches, identify implementation risks, resolve roadblocks, and support the evolution of reusable AI engineering patterns. This role requires curiosity and continuous learning, including staying current with developments in AI, machine learning, LLMs, agentic systems, and modern software engineering practices. A successful Lead AI Engineer will help deliver production‑grade AI applications that create measurable business value while raising the technical quality and capability of the broader team.

Core responsibilities of this job are articulated within this job description. Job duties may change at any time due to business needs.

About you

4-year degree in Quantitative disciplines (Science, Tech, Engineering, Mathematics) or equivalent industry experience required; MS in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Applied Mathematics or a related technical field preferred; 5+ years of hands‑on software engineering experience, including experience building and operating production systems; Strong experience developing AI/ML applications, including LLM-powered applications, agentic systems, applied machine learning solutions, data-intensive applications, or intelligent automation capabilities; Strong proficiency with Python and experience with modern AI/ML or deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel, or similar tools; Experience working with model APIs, prompt orchestration, agent development patterns, retrieval‑augmented generation, evaluation frameworks, observability tools, cloud ML platforms, containers, or orchestration technologies; Strong understanding of system design, application architecture, model and framework tradeoffs, experimentation, evaluation strategy, performance optimization, and production deployment considerations for AI systems; Experience building scalable, maintainable, and well‑tested services, APIs, data pipelines, applications, or platforms; Experience with version control, CI/CD, code review practices, documentation, operational monitoring, and production support; Ability to translate ambiguous business problems into clear technical approaches and collaborate with cross‑functional partners to deliver practical solutions; Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly to engineers, Data Scientists, product partners, business stakeholders, and leaders; Ability to mentor engineers, contribute to technical direction, and raise the quality of engineering practices within a team; Self‑driven and results‑oriented, with strong ownership, sound judgment, and the ability to move quickly while maintaining high technical standards; Collaborative team player with a commitment to continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and building reliable AI systems that create business value.

Work arrangement

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.

This position may be considered for a Remote or Hybrid (known internally at Target as "Flex for Your Day") work arrangement based on Target's needs. A Remote work arrangement means the team member works full‑time from home or an alternate location that is not a Target location, does not have a desk at a Target location and may travel to HQ up to 4 times a year. A Hybrid/Flex for Your Day work arrangement means the team member's core role may be performed either remote or onsite at a Target location 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.

Benefits Eligibility

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

Legal and equal access

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 [e-mail]. Non‑accommodation‑related requests, such as application follow‑ups or technical issues, will not be addressed through this channel.

Target is one of the world’s most recognized brands and one of America’s leading retailers. We make Target our guests’ preferred shopping destination by offering outstanding value, inspiration, innovation and an exceptional guest experience that no other retailer can deliver. Target is committed to responsible corporate citizenship, ethical business practices, environmental stewardship and generous community support. Since 1946, we have given 5 percent of our profits back to our communities. Our goal is to work as one team to fulfill our unique brand promise to our guests, wherever and whenever they choose to shop.