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.