Lead Data Scientist - Search (Applied ML, NLP, LLMs)

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.
 

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 Applied Data Science team builds the core relevance engine and Data Science products that power Target’s Digital experience. As a Lead Data Scientist on this product – 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 use cutting-edge machine learning algorithms and NLP techniques to improve our Mobile and Web Search systems!

In this role at Target as a Lead Data Scientist, you’ll: 

• Develop and deploy scalable deep learning models to improve the search experience of guests
• Architect and implement large-scale AI systems using test-driven development practices
• Build NLP technology for query and document analysis, processing, and understanding
• Create data pipelines for feature/label extraction and generation
• Conduct data analysis to identify opportunities and improve models
• Conduct research to advance the state-of-the-art machine learning and NLP technologies
• Contributing to the operations/building of AI pipelines
• Adopting Target's infrastructural platforms and operationalize tools and systems around them
• Mentor and partner with other engineers to develop software that meets business needs
• Follow agile methodology for software development and technical documentation
• Innovate constantly and keep systems up to date with current technologies

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
• MS/PhD in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Physics or equivalent work or industry experience
• Research and/or demonstrated industry experiences in Search Indexing, Information Retrieval, Ranking as well as NLP, LLMs or Recommendation Systems
• 5+ years of experience in deploying machine learning algorithms into production environments
• Proficient in Python or Java with excellent coding and problem-solving skills
• Exceptional hands-on modeling skills using Python
• Extensive experience in implementing and integrating ML models in production with high traffic and scale
• Experience querying large databases with SQL, HQL, or some variation
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills that can partner with a global team
• Constant learner mentality that stays on the leading edge of Search/Ranking, ML and NLP advancements

Bonus Points:

• PhD in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Physics or related quantitative field
• Proven record of achieving significant engineering (applied ML) or academic research in Search/Ranking
• Experience with Solr at scale