Lead Operations Research Scientist

As a Fortune 50 company with more than 400,000 team members worldwide, Target is an iconic brand and one of America's leading retailers. Joining Target means promoting a culture of mutual care and respect and striving to make the most meaningful and positive impact. Becoming a Target team member means joining a community that values diverse voices and lifts each other up. Here, we believe your unique perspective is important, and you'll build relationships by being authentic and respectful.

Supply Chain Network Optimization (SCNO) is a global team and part of Integrated Operations Planning & Network steering within Global Supply Chain and Logistics. We are at the forefront of defining and enabling an efficient, reliable and best in class supply chain. This team uses a wide variety of engineering and advanced applied mathematical techniques (5Why’s, ML, AI, OR, MILP, DES,) techniques to study and solve niche problems in supply chain across the entire value chain (Planning, purchasing, transportation, multi echelon inventory, last mile and process optimization) to enable the best guest experience and profitable growth for Target.

As a Lead Operations Research Scientist in SCNO, you will tackle complex supply chain challenges, develop a deep understanding of problem complexity, and drive cutting-edge solutions. This role requires strong experience working with large data sets, advanced programming skills, and a solid foundation in statistics, probability theory, machine learning, AI, simulations (such as Monte Carlo and discrete event simulation), and operations research.

You will be expected to work effectively on high-visibility problems that come with inherent risks, roadblocks, and constraints, while collaborating closely with cross-functional stakeholders. You will also be accountable for planning and delivering team projects, ensuring alignment across teams, and driving measurable impact.

Key responsibilities include:

• Identify large scale problem spaces aligned to enterprise priorities. Actively engage with cross-functional business stakeholders to structure the ambiguous problems.

• Work with & guide junior researchers to gather, analyze, and process large data sets to identify problems and root causes.

• Develop and apply advanced operations research techniques, applied AI, and machine learning methods to solve multi-dimensional business problems.

• Build and run complex simulations, conduct scenario analyses, and employ optimization methods.

• Plan and develop project charters with clearly defined milestones and success metrics.

• Build cross-functional alignment, remove blockers to accelerate project delivery.

• Communicate insights effectively through clear and concise storytelling to influence decision-making.

Core responsibilities of this job are described within this job description. Job duties may change at any time due to business needs.

• Retail or Supply Chain experience is a must have.