Sr Engineering Manager Advanced AI
Working at Target means helping all families discover the joy of everyday life. We bring that vision to life through our values and culture.
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 Sr Engineering Manager for Advanced AI, you will lead a full-stack engineering team responsible for building, deploying, and maintaining high-quality AI/ML applications. Your team will include AI/ML Engineers, Full-Stack Software Engineers and Data Engineers working closely with Applied Data Scientists, Product partners, platform teams, security teams and business stakeholders. You will guide technical decisions across architecture, infrastructure, data, APIs, application design, reliability, observability, and security, while ensuring solutions comply with Target's enterprise requirements for infrastructure, platform architecture, security, data handling, and operational readiness.

You will also help define and evolve the technical roadmap for AI applications, balancing speed, quality, scalability, maintainability and business impact. This role requires strong coaching and talent development, including mentoring engineers across AI/ML engineering, full-stack software engineering and data engineering. You will manage multiple stakeholders and leader expectations by creating clarity around priorities, risks, tradeoffs, dependencies and outcomes. You will also stay current with developments in AI, machine learning, LLMs, agentic systems, and enterprise AI patterns, helping the team apply relevant advances thoughtfully. A successful Sr Engineering Manager in this role will help develop, own, and maintain multiple scalable AI applications that create measurable business value.

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 or equivalent industry experience
• 7+ years of engineering experience including hands-on software development experience
• 3+ years of experience managing engineering teams with a strong track record of delivering complex, cross-functional technology initiatives
• Experience leading or working closely with teams of Data Scientists, AI/ML Engineers, Software Engineers and Data Engineers
• Strong technical understanding of modern AI/ML application development including building and operating end-to-end systems in production (ML Ops)
• Demonstrated experience with LLM-powered applications, agentic architectures, applied machine learning systems, data-intensive applications, or intelligent automation solutions
• Strong proficiency with Python programming - experience with additional languages such as Java, Kotlin, Go, TypeScript, or similar a plus
• Experience designing, building and operating scalable APIs, services, data pipelines, applications and data platforms
• Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, observability, reliability engineering, secure software development and enterprise technology standards
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to engineers, applied data scientist, stakeholders and Sr leadership
• Demonstrated ability to manage ambiguity, align stakeholders, influence technical direction and drive clarity across competing priorities
• Passion for coaching, mentoring, talent development, and building inclusive, high-performing global engineering teams
• Successful track record of working in large enterprise technology ecosystems leading complex technology teams
• Deep understanding of agile development processes and methodology including continuous integration and delivery, with a mindset of building incrementally and delivering business value quickly

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's 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.