Principal Product Manager – Core Intelligence and Optimization
Target in India | L7 Individual Contributor
About the Job – Principal Product Manager, Core Intelligence and Optimization
Target’s stores operate at extraordinary scale and complexity. Every day, millions of signals across inventory, workload, space, team member activity and physical environments create opportunities to make smarter operational decisions.
As a Principal Product Manager for Core Intelligence and Optimization, you will help shape how Target turns those signals into intelligence.
You will be a senior product thought leader working across Core Intelligence to identify and solve some of Target’s hardest problems at the intersection of AI, data science, operational intelligence, recommendation, optimization and automation.
Your role will extend beyond any single product. You will explore emerging opportunities, frame ambiguous problems, incubate new intelligence capabilities and connect products across the intelligence lifecycle—from understanding operational context through recommendation and optimization.
You will influence Product, Engineering, Data Science, UX and Operations leaders across the enterprise and help shape Target's evolving approach to intelligent Store systems.
Core Intelligence Optimization Product Strategy & Innovation
- Shape long-term product thinking for Core Intelligence and identify emerging opportunities across intelligent systems, AI/ML, recommendation, optimization and automation.
- Develop strong product perspectives on how Target can use operational and physical signals to create differentiated Store intelligence.
- Identify complex, cross-cutting problems where intelligence can create meaningful value for guests, team members and Store operations.
- Translate ambiguous opportunities into clear problem spaces, hypotheses and product strategies.
- Help determine where Target should build reusable intelligence capabilities versus domain-specific solutions.
Discovery, Experimentation & Incubation
- Lead discovery for emerging intelligence opportunities that span existing product or organizational boundaries.
- Partner deeply with Engineering, Data Science, AI/ML, UX and Operations to explore problems and potential solutions.
- Use simulation, experimentation, prototypes and data to rapidly validate hypotheses.
- Incubate new intelligence capabilities until there is sufficient evidence and clarity to scale.
- Establish measurable feedback loops that connect intelligence and recommendations to operational outcomes.
- Challenge teams to demonstrate value and learning before scaling investment.
Enterprise Product Leadership
- Connect intelligence capabilities across products and experiences to create coherent, reusable systems rather than isolated solutions.
- Influence product strategy and investment decisions across multiple Product groups.
- Navigate complex technical, operational and organizational trade-offs.
- Communicate sophisticated intelligence concepts in clear language that enables senior leaders to make decisions.
- Serve as a trusted product thought partner to Product Directors and senior PTUX leaders.
Elevate Product Craft
- Raise the quality of product discovery, strategy, experimentation and outcome measurement across Core Intelligence.
- Coach and mentor Product Managers without direct people-management responsibility.
- Introduce product practices appropriate for AI/ML and intelligence products where outputs may be probabilistic and continuously learning.
- Help teams move from feature and solution thinking toward problem, outcome and capability thinking.
- Build reusable frameworks that strengthen product decision-making across the organization.
About You
- 4-year college degree or equivalent experience; advanced degree is a plus.
- 8+ years of Product Management experience with significant experience solving highly complex product problems.
- Demonstrated ability to operate as a senior individual contributor across organizational boundaries.
- Experience with AI/ML, data products, recommendation systems, optimization, intelligent platforms or similarly complex technical domains is strongly preferred.
- Exceptional problem framing, systems thinking and product judgment.
- Strong discovery and experimentation mindset.
- Ability to translate emerging technology into meaningful customer and business opportunities.
- Proven ability to influence senior Product, Technology, Data Science and business leaders without direct authority.
- Strong written and verbal storytelling skills.
- Thrives in ambiguity and is energized by problems where the answer has not yet been defined.
Skills Required
- 4-year college degree or equivalent experience
- Advanced degree
- 8+ years of Product Management experience solving highly complex product problems
- Experience operating as a senior individual contributor across organizational boundaries
- Experience with AI/ML, data products, recommendation systems, optimization, or intelligent platforms
- Exceptional problem framing, systems thinking and product judgment
- Strong discovery, experimentation and prototyping mindset
- Ability to translate emerging technology into customer and business opportunities
- Proven ability to influence senior Product, Technology, Data Science and business leaders without direct authority
- Strong written and verbal storytelling skills
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.
