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.
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.
As a Principal Engineer you set the strategy for software development and/or infrastructure engineering at Target. You set the direction for how software and infrastructure engineering efforts will be designed, developed, and operationalized across multiple portfolios and drives adoption across TTS. You lead and approve software and infrastructure engineering efforts to meet functional and non-functional requirements. You are a thought leader and mentor for internal and external technical talent and actively contribute to the external technical community.
Use your skills, experience and talents to be a part of groundbreaking thinking and visionary goals. As a Principal Engineer, you’ll take the lead as you…
Understand Target's business and technical environments and assist teams in resolving complex business challenges via current technical solutions by assessing viability/applicability/cost implication through POCs and prototypes. Collaborate with technical staff and Enterprise Architecture teams in setting technical direction across platform and drive technology lifecycle management and communication of standards/decisions to the engineering team. Participate in procurement specifications, installation, and maintenance of Target systems. Lead designing and building the Target platform API with deep focus on non-functional requirement including scalability, availability, performance, etc. while being a strong advocate of extreme agile and DevOps practices across engineers. Work with engineering leaders to build a high performing engineering team and provide technical leadership, coaching, motivation and participate in the selection of technical talent.
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 or equivalent experience. Continuing education to maintain thorough knowledge of technical domains along with staying current in latest technologies
• 12+ years of experience in technology development or services
• 4+ years of experience in strategic planning and setting technical direction
• Possesses a strong understanding of systems programming and control languages as required by your domain. Has demonstrated success in solving complex technical problems in more than one technical or functional areas
• Understands business fundamentals and how technologies can support business goals along with how to translate business vision into a technical strategy while understanding the financial implications
• Has proven leadership capabilities, the ability to influence others, interpersonal skills, and problem solving skills
• Strong team player who understands concepts of teamwork and team effectiveness.
• Has excellent verbal, written, and presentation communication skills to convey complex technical solutions clearly to an organization
• Has excellent planning and organizational skills.
• Experience in Java/ J2EE, sql/ no-sql (postgre, mongoDB, Cassandra, graph structure, etc.), Python, Ruby, Chef, Drone, Kubernetes containers, Cloud tech, etc.
Benefits Eligibility
Please paste this url into your preferred browser to learn about benefits eligibility for this role: https://tgt.biz/BenefitsForYou_FAmericans 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 [email protected]. Non-accommodation-related requests, such as application follow-ups or technical issues, will not be addressed through this channel.
Application deadline is : 09/26/2026Skills Required
- Four-year degree or equivalent experience
- 12+ years of experience in technology development or services
- 4+ years of experience in strategic planning and setting technical direction
- Strong understanding of systems programming and control languages relevant to the domain
- Demonstrated success solving complex technical problems across more than one technical or functional area
- Understanding of business fundamentals, technology strategy, business goals, and financial implications
- Proven leadership, influence, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills
- Teamwork and team-effectiveness knowledge
- Excellent verbal, written, and presentation communication skills
- Planning and organizational skills
- Experience with Java or J2EE, SQL or NoSQL databases, Python, Ruby, Chef, Drone, Kubernetes, and cloud technologies
- Continuing education to maintain knowledge of technical domains and current technologies
Target Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Target and has not been reviewed or approved by Target.
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Healthcare Strength — Health benefits are accessible to hourly team members at relatively low hour thresholds and include no‑cost, 24/7 virtual medical care and expanded mental‑health support. This breadth is positioned as a relative strength compared to typical retail offerings.
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Retirement Support — Retirement programs include a dollar‑for‑dollar 401(k) match with immediate vesting and options like Roth 401(k) and stock purchase. These features strengthen long‑term savings for a wide range of roles.
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Parental & Family Support — Family support includes paid family leave, backup care, and reimbursements for adoption and surrogacy. These resources complement paid time off and holidays for eligible team members.
Target Insights
What We Do
Target is an American retailing company providing access to a wide selection of products such as furniture, electronics, toys, and more. Target is one of the world’s most recognized brands and one of America’s leading retailers. We make Target our guests’ preferred shopping destination by offering outstanding value, inspiration, innovation and an exceptional guest experience that no other retailer can deliver. Target is committed to responsible corporate citizenship, ethical business practices, environmental stewardship and generous community support. Since 1946, we have given 5 percent of our profits back to our communities. Our goal is to work as one team to fulfill our unique brand promise to our guests, wherever and whenever they choose to shop.
