Principal Data Scientist, AI-Driven Search (Remote)

Target; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 168,000 - 356,000; Full time

Job summary

Target is seeking a Principal Data Scientist for the Search and Browse group. You will define long-term technical vision, lead architecture for large-scale retrieval and semantic search, and drive innovation across transformers, LLMs, and RAG.

You will mentor senior scientists and represent the team in executive reviews to align on strategy. The role requires strong leadership, deep ML expertise, and proven ability to influence cross-functional teams in a hybrid work setting at our Sunnyvale, CA

Qualifications

• PhD or MS in a quantitative field such as CS, statistics, or math.
• 8+ years building and scaling ML systems for search/recommendation/personalization.
• Strong experience with semantic retrieval, vector search, and RAG.
• Deep expertise in retrieval/ranking architectures and NLP/LLMs.
• Proven architecture leadership for large-scale production AI systems.
• Experience operating large-scale, latency-sensitive online systems.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and mentoring skills.

Responsibilities

• Define the long-term technical vision and roadmap for search, browse, and AI discovery.
• Lead architecture for large-scale retrieval, ranking, and semantic search.
• Drive innovation across transformers, LLMs, RAG, and multi-stage ranking.
• Architect search systems for external LLM and agentic search integrations.
• Mentor senior scientists and leaders across the organization.
• Represent the team in executive reviews and align on major decisions.

Skills

Semantic retrieval

Vector search

RAG systems

Conversational search

Agentic AI

Python programming

Architectural strategy

Cross-functional leadership

ML systems

Education

PhD/MS in quantitative field

Tools

VertexAI

Large-scale ML systems

Job description

Target is seeking a Principal Data Scientist for the Search and Browse group. You will define long-term technical vision, lead architecture for large-scale retrieval and semantic search, and drive innovation across transformers, LLMs, and RAG.

You will mentor senior scientists and represent the team in executive reviews to align on strategy. The role requires strong leadership, deep ML expertise, and proven ability to influence cross-functional teams in a hybrid work setting at our Sunnyvale, CA