Lead Engineer - Automation Integration & Scale Engineering

The pay range is $132,000.00 - $238,000.00

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.

The Lead Engineer, Automation Integration & Scale Engineering will join a brand-new, high-impact engineering team focused on transforming Target's Supply Chain and Stores—starting with Supply Chain.

We're building a high-impact engineering team to bring next-generation automation to life across Target's Supply Chain. Engineers will build scalable, production-ready software integrations that connect Target systems with automation solutions, with a strong focus on reliability, observability, monitoring, and operational support. The team will own solutions from development through testing, site rollout, stabilization, and ongoing evolution—solving complex real-world integration challenges along the way. If you enjoy building resilient systems at scale, strong end-to-end ownership, and seeing your software directly power physical operations, this is the team for you.

As a Lead Engineer, you will be a key technical leader responsible for driving the design and delivery of innovative, scalable systems in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment. You will lead by example—writing high-quality code, mentoring engineers, and shaping the team’s technical direction.

What You’ll Do

Own and drive the architecture, design, and implementation of backend systems that power Target’s store and warehouse operations

Lead technical discovery and rapid prototyping to evaluate new ideas and prove their value

Collaborate closely with product, operations, and platform teams to translate real-world problems into scalable engineering solutions

Guide the team through ambiguous problem spaces—making smart trade-offs and ensuring timely, high-quality delivery

Champion engineering best practices and mentor other engineers on design, performance, and scalability

Integrate with automation software and systems that interact with physical devices and operational workflows

Core technologies:

Languages: Kotlin

Runtimes/Frameworks: Micronaut, Frameworkless

Event Streaming: Kafka

Datastores: Postgres, Mongo, Cassandra, Elastic, RocksDB

Metrics & Monitoring: InfluxDB, Grafana

Caching - Redis

Core responsibilities are outlined below and may evolve based on business needs.

About you:

4-year degree or equivalent experience

7+ years of software development experience with at least one full cycle implementation

Demonstrates strong domain-specific knowledge regarding Target’s technology capabilities, and key competitors’ products and differentiating features

Strong expertise in designing distributed systems and event-driven architectures

Hands-on experience building resilient, high-throughput backend systems

Ability to work across ambiguous, fast-moving initiatives and bring clarity and structure

Experience working with automation, hardware integration, or operational tech is a plus

Excellent communication and a strong bias for action

Communicates and coordinates with project team, partners, and stakeholders

Maintains deep technical knowledge within areas of expertise

Stays current with new and evolving technologies via formal training and self-directed education.

This position will operate as a Hybrid/Flex for Your Day work arrangement based on Target’s needs. A Hybrid/Flex for Your Day work arrangement means the team member’s core role will need to be performed both onsite at the Target HQ MN location the role is assigned to and virtually, depending upon what your role, team and tasks require for that day. Work duties cannot be performed outside of the country of the primary work location, unless otherwise prescribed by Target. Click here if you are curious to learn more about Minnesota.

Benefits Eligibility

Please paste this url into your preferred browser to learn about benefits eligibility for this role: https://tgt.biz/BenefitsForYou_E

Americans 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.