Principal Engineer - AI​/ML Platform

Principal Engineer – AI Platforms

Pay range: $ - $. Pay is based on labor markets, education, work experience, and certifications.

Target cares about and invests in you as a team member, offering comprehensive health benefits including medical, vision, dental, and life insurance, as well as 401(k), employee discount, short‑term disability, long‑term disability, paid sick leave, paid national holidays, and paid vacation.

Target’s AI Platform organization builds next‑generation enterprise AI capabilities that enable teams to develop, deploy, govern, and operate machine learning and generative AI solutions  Principal Engineer – ML Operations Platform, you will provide technical leadership in defining the architecture and evolution of the enterprise ML Operations Platform, establishing scalable, secure, cloud‑native systems for model development, deployment, monitoring, and governance.

• Define the long‑term technical strategy and architecture for the enterprise ML Operations Platform.
• Design scalable, secure, and resilient cloud‑native platforms supporting machine learning workloads.
• Establish best practices for model development, deployment, monitoring, and lifecycle management.
• Lead architecture for enterprise machine learning infrastructure supporting batch, streaming, and real‑time inference.
• Drive adoption of cloud‑native technologies, Kubernetes, and modern platform engineering practices.
• Define standards for model governance, observability, reliability, explainability, and responsible AI.
• Partner with infrastructure, security, and engineering teams to improve platform scalability, performance, and operational efficiency.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend architectural approaches that improve platform capabilities.
• Mentor engineers and influence technical direction across multiple engineering organizations.

• MS in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related technical field with relevant software engineering experience.
• Extensive experience designing and delivering large‑scale cloud‑native platforms or distributed systems.
• Deep experience building and operating enterprise machine learning platforms and MLOps capabilities.
• Strong understanding of machine learning lifecycle management, deployment strategies, observability, and production operations.
• Demonstrated experience with machine learning platforms and tooling such as Vertex AI, Kubeflow, MLflow, or equivalent technologies.
• Experience building developer platforms or internal platform products.
• Experience with distributed training, GPU infrastructure, and large‑scale inference platforms.
• Experience with feature management, model governance, and responsible AI practices.
• Familiarity with generative AI platforms and foundation model workloads.
• Experience with Terraform, Git Ops, service mesh technologies, and platform automation.
• Experience mentoring senior engineers and leading enterprise‑scale modernization initiatives.
• Expertise designing Kubernetes‑based platforms supporting AI and machine learning workloads.
• Strong understanding of software engineering best practices including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, observability, testing, and automation.
• Experience defining technical strategy, architectural standards, and engineering best practices across multiple teams.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills with the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to engineering and business leaders.

This position may be considered for a Remote or Hybrid (Flex for Your Day) work arrangement based on Target’s needs.

• Remote: full‑time from home or an alternate location not at a Target location; may travel to HQ up to 4 times a year.
• Hybrid/Flex for Your Day: core role performed either remote or onsite at a Target location depending on role, team, and task requirements.
• Work duties cannot be performed outside the country of the primary work location unless otherwise prescribed by Target.

Learn about benefits eligibility for this role:

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.acc