Sr Data Scientist - Search (Applied ML, NLP, Query Understanding)

About Us:
As a Fortune 50 company with more than 350,000 team members worldwide, Target is an iconic brand and one of America's leading retailers. 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.

Join our global in-house Tech team of more than 5,000 software engineers, applied data scientists, architects and product managers striving to make Target the most convenient, safe and joyful place to shop. We use agile practices and leverage open-source software to adapt and build best-in-class technology for our team members and guests. We do so with a focus on diversity and inclusion, experimentation and continuous learning.

The Search and Browse Data Science team builds the core relevance engine and Data Science products that power Target’s digital experience. As a Sr Data Scientist on this team – you’ll work with business partners to provide solutions for business problems in a fast-paced and global environment. You’ll have the opportunity to design quality, flexible and performant Data Science systems and services at scale.  You’ll also architect Data Science solutions that capture, process and mine huge datasets in the retail industry. We’ll also promote innovative thinking as well as the opportunity to utilize cutting-edge machine learning algorithms and NLP techniques to improve our Mobile and Web Search systems 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 (Java, Scala, Python, R), and learn and adhere to best practices in data analysis and data understanding.

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 or MS in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Physics or related quantitative field
• Research and/or industry experiences in relevant fields such as Information Retrieval, Query Understanding, Machine Learning, NLP as well as Recommendation or Recommender systems
• Demonstrated experience in Search Indexing, Retrieval, Ranking or Query Understanding
• 3 plus year of experience implementing Machine Learning models and algorithms into production at scale
• Proficient in Python or Java with advanced coding and problem-solving skills
• Exceptional modeling skills using Python
• Experience querying large databases with SQL, HQL or some variations
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills that can partner with a global teams
• Constant learner mentality that stays on the leading edge of Search, Query Understanding, ML, LLMs and NLP advancements

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.