Level

Target

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

Target is hiring a Sr Applied Data Scientist - Personalization (applied ML, PyTorch, ML Ops). It pays $98k-$176k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Target.

Level's read on this job

  • On Level's scale, this data scientist role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
  • Tools and skills the posting cites include PyTorch, JAX and MLOps.
  • Level lists 1,600+ other open roles at Target.
  • The role was posted within the past two weeks.

AI in this role

pytorchjax
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 instances may 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 https://corporate.target.com/careers/benefits.

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 with Target Data Sciences means the chance to help develop and manage state of the art predictive algorithms that use data at scale to automate and 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 algorithms that power solutions our partners in Digital Marketing, Supply Chain Optimization, Advanced AI, Search and Personalization/RecSys rely on.  

As a Sr Data Scientist, you’ll work on the Target Data Science Recommendations team collaborating with data scientists, machine learning engineers and 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 optimization you’ll perform data exploration and analysis, implement algorithmic solutions given specifications, push solutions to our production environment, and analyze performance and trade-offs.  We will expect you to understand Agile principles, follow best-practice software design, participate in code reviews, create a maintainable and well-tested codebase with relevant documentation. On the business side, you’ll document and present work to technical and non-technical peers, build knowledge on business priorities and strategic goals and leverage this knowledge while building requirements and solutions for each business need.

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

About you:

  • 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 as PyTorch or 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 experience leveraging generative 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 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.

Benefits Eligibility

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

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 : 10/29/2026

How we rate this

Sr Applied Data Scientist - Personalization (applied ML, PyTorch, ML Ops) at Target rates 98 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

ML OpsPyTorchJAX

Also common in data scientist jobs at this level

Pay

This job starts at
$98k
Typical data scientist job
$170k

This posting starts 42% below the typical data scientist job. See data scientist jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. How do you monitor a model once it's live, and how do you know it needs retraining?
  2. Walk me through how you've used PyTorch in your day-to-day work.
  3. What are the limits of JAX that you've run into, and how did you work around them?
  4. How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?
  5. Tell me about a time a model underperformed in production. How did you find out, and what did you change?

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: ML Ops, PyTorch, and JAX. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
  • Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
  • Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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