Director, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) & AI Discovery

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.

Target Marketing is well known for inspiring and surprising guests, and we pride ourselves on connecting them to the products and experiences they expect and love from Target. We study our guests to discover new insights and then craft every interaction to build brand equity and enterprise sales. We are marketing experts who insist on a clear and cohesive understanding of our business objectives, guest segments and behaviors, strategies and tactics, overcoming obstacles and measuring for continuous improvement. Leveraging our collective assets and fostering a healthy, supportive and open team culture, we deliver a holistically gratifying experience that guests can only get at Target.

A role within Target’s Media & Integrated Commerce team sits at the center of growth, driving profitable sales by increasing guest traffic, trips, and engagement across channels. The team brings Target’s multichannel vision to life by connecting media, merchandising, and digital experiences to create seamless guest journeys. You’ll lead and activate strategies that deliver both brand and performance outcomes, while staying ahead of emerging platforms and AI-driven innovation. Beyond campaigns, this work shapes how Target shows up across a rapidly evolving discovery and commerce ecosystem. Just as important, you’ll help foster a culture rooted in guest and business obsession, connection, and continuous learning –championing transparency, developing talent, and driving shared accountability to deliver results at scale.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute an integrated paid search and AI discovery strategy that maximizes demand capture across engines, marketplaces, and AI-native surfaces.
• Oversee a multi-hundred-million-dollar media portfolio across paid search, shopping, and emerging AI-driven formats.
• Lead the evolution from keyword-based buying to signal-based, AI-optimized media systems.
• Shape how Target participates in agent-mediated shopping journeys in conversational and assistant-driven experiences.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Measurement, and Data Science to strengthen data signals, feeds, and measurement frameworks.
• Drive a high-velocity experimentation agenda across bidding strategies, audience signals, creative formats, and emerging AI-native ad products.
• Act as a strategic connector across Marketing, Digital, Merchandising, and Roundel for paid search and AI-driven discovery.
• Lead and develop a high-performing team, evolving capabilities from traditional SEM execution to AI-enabled media strategy and portfolio optimization.

About You

• 10+ years in digital or performance marketing.
• 5+ years leading large-scale SEM or search programs within retail or high-volume B2C environments.
• Deep expertise in paid search, shopping, and auction-based media.
• Hands-on understanding of search algorithms, feed-based optimization, and bid management platforms (e.g., Kenshoo, Marin, Google Ads, SA360).
• Proven track record of modernizing legacy marketing capabilities into scalable, future-facing systems.
• Strong ownership of large budgets, forecasting, and performance measurement.
• Ability to distill complex topics into clear, actionable strategies for senior leadership.
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or related field preferred.

Work Arrangement

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.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• Life insurance
• 401(k)
• Employee discount
• Short term disability
• Long term disability
• Paid sick leave
• Paid national holidays
• Paid vacation

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 candidate.accommodations@HRHelp.Target.com. Non-accommodation-related requests, such as application follow-ups or technical issues, will not be addressed through this channel.