Lead UX Product Designer - Guest UX

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Lead UX Product Designer - Guest UX

Company: Target

Location: Minneapolis, MN, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: User Experience (UX) Design / Product Design

Date Posted: 2026-04-21

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Hybrid (Flex for Your Day)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the end-to-end user experience (UX) design for ad-tech features within Target's Guest UX (GUX) team, focusing on AI-powered campaign workflows.

• Define and drive the experience strategy, including UX north stars and detailed workflow models for advertisers, operators, and measurement users.

• Translate complex decisioning logic, such as machine learning ranking and optimization algorithms, into explainable and intuitive UI surfaces.

• Champion user-centered design principles and best practices across product, engineering, and marketing teams, while mentoring junior designers.

• Leverage data and insights to inform design direction and communicate the connection between design and business outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the original job title is "Lead UX Product Designer - Guest UX," the responsibilities heavily lean into the ad-tech and AI-powered campaign management space. This suggests a specialized UX role focused on the operational and strategic aspects of advertising technology, rather than a generalist product design position. The "Guest UX" team context indicates that this role, while focused on ad tech, is ultimately in service of enhancing the overall guest and partner digital experience, implying a need to balance advertiser needs with broader user engagement.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design and develop comprehensive UX patterns that clarify campaign performance, ad delivery mechanisms, and optimization signals for advertisers and internal teams.

• Create detailed workflow models and experience blueprints for critical user journeys within campaign setup, optimization, and insights phases.

• Lead the complete UX design lifecycle for ad-tech features, encompassing campaign planning, forecasting, targeting, bidding, creative approvals, and reporting.

• Translate complex mechanics like auction behavior, pacing, and spend forecasts into understandable insights, notifications, and visualizations for marketers.

• Advocate for and implement user-centric outcomes by leveraging influence across product experiences and collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders.

• Partner closely with engineering teams to map dependencies for critical features, including logging, ML-driven optimization surfaces, and inventory systems.

• Proactively identify and mitigate UX risks within campaign management and measurement areas, proposing strategic design alternatives.

• Mentor and guide junior UX designers, fostering their professional growth in craft, critical thinking, and user-centered methodologies.

• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research to gather user insights and validate design decisions.

• Uphold high standards for design craft, ensuring excellence in accessibility, usability, information architecture, interaction design, and visual execution.

• Promote and advance a culture of human-centered design across UX, product, and engineering disciplines.

• Build strong internal relationships to enable the vision for enterprise experience tools and contribute to Target's overall digital strategy.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a deep dive into ad technology operations, including "AI-powered campaign workflows," "ML ranking, relevance models, budget optimization algorithms," and "auction behavior." This indicates a need for a designer who can not only create intuitive interfaces but also understand the underlying technical and business logic of advertising platforms. The "Lead" aspect signifies ownership and strategic influence.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While not explicitly stated, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Science, or a related field is typically expected for lead-level UX design roles.

Experience: 7+ years of experience in product design, with a demonstrated history of success in ad tech or complex digital platforms.

Required Skills:

• Expertise in UX and product design principles, including user research, information architecture, interaction design, and usability testing.

• Advanced proficiency in modern design and prototyping tools, with a strong emphasis on Figma.

• Strong strategic problem-solving and systems thinking capabilities to tackle complex design challenges.

• Proven ability to structure and plan design work, taking ownership of the entire design process from concept to delivery.

• Demonstrated skill in effectively using data and insights to inform design direction and communicate strategic approaches.

• Experience balancing near-term delivery requirements with long-term product vision.

• Exceptional communication skills, specifically in articulating how design decisions connect to and improve business outcomes.

• Comfort and curiosity in exploring and utilizing emerging AI-powered tools to enhance the design process.

• A growth mindset, with a passion for evolving personal design practice and contributing to the broader UX discipline.

Preferred Skills:

• Specific experience within the ad tech industry or with advertising platforms.

• Familiarity with AI/ML concepts as they apply to campaign optimization and management.

• Experience with enterprise-level tools and scaled solutions.

• Understanding of retail digital experiences and e-commerce platforms.

• Knowledge of accessibility standards and best practices (WCAG).

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "ad tech," "AI-powered tools," and "systems thinking" suggests that candidates with experience in complex, data-intensive platforms will be highly valued. The requirement for 7+ years of experience indicates this is a senior-level position requiring significant autonomy and strategic input. The mention of Figma as a primary tool is a key technical requirement.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A robust portfolio showcasing successful product design and ad tech expertise, demonstrating end-to-end ownership.

• Case studies that highlight complex problem-solving, strategic thinking, and the ability to translate intricate logic into user-friendly interfaces.

• Examples of workflow modeling and detailed user journey mapping for complex systems.

• Demonstrations of how data and user insights were leveraged to drive design decisions and achieve measurable business outcomes.

Process Documentation:

• Case studies that clearly articulate the design process followed, from initial problem definition and research through to final implementation and iteration.

• Documentation of how user needs and business requirements were balanced in the design solutions.

• Examples of how collaboration with product managers, engineers, and stakeholders was managed throughout the design lifecycle.

• Prototypes and mockups that illustrate the interaction design and visual execution of complex ad-tech features.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role's focus on ad tech and AI-powered workflows necessitates a portfolio that goes beyond basic UI design. Candidates should be prepared to showcase their ability to design for complex systems, understand data-driven decision-making, and articulate the strategic impact of their designs on business metrics. Portfolio elements should specifically address experience with complex workflows and AI integration.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $128,000.00 - $231,000.00 USD per year.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health benefits and programs for eligible team members and their dependents, including:

  • Medical insurance
  • Vision insurance
  • Dental insurance
  • Life insurance

• Retirement savings plan: 401(k).

• Employee discount program.

• Disability coverage: Short-term disability and Long-term disability.

• Paid time off:

  • Paid sick leave

  • Paid national holidays

  • Paid vacation Working Hours: Standard full-time hours, likely around 40 hours per week, with flexibility often available through Target's "Flex for Your Day" hybrid arrangement.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is competitive for a Lead UX Product Designer role in a major metropolitan area like Minneapolis, especially within a large retail corporation like Target. The benefits package is comprehensive, typical of large enterprises, offering robust health, financial, and time-off support. The "Flex for Your Day" arrangement implies a hybrid model where daily work location might vary based on task requirements, offering a degree of flexibility.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Retail. Target is a leading multi-channel retailer, known for its strong brand presence and commitment to innovation in both physical and digital spaces.

Company Size: Large Enterprise (Target is a Fortune 50 company with hundreds of thousands of employees globally). This scale offers opportunities for significant impact and exposure to complex, large-scale operations.

Founded: 1902. With over a century of history, Target has a well-established corporate culture and a deep understanding of the retail landscape.

Team Structure:

• The Guest UX (GUX) team is part of Target's broader UX organization, which includes practitioners in design, content, research, and accessibility.

• This specific role is within the "Roundel" initiative, focusing on ad tech and AI-powered campaign workflows, suggesting a specialized, potentially agile, sub-team.

• Collaboration is expected across product, engineering, marketing, and potentially data science/ML teams.

Methodology:

• Human-centered design is a core methodology, emphasizing user research, iterative design, and data-driven decision-making.

• The role involves translating high-level product vision into detailed workflow models and experience blueprints, indicating a structured approach to design strategy.

• Proactive identification of UX risks and exploration of alternative design paths are encouraged, suggesting a forward-thinking and problem-solving approach.

• The use of AI-powered tools and a focus on explainable UI for complex algorithms point to an embrace of modern technologies and advanced analytical approaches.

Company Website: https://corporate.target.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Target's culture is generally perceived as values-driven, with a focus on guest experience and team member well-being. For operations and design roles, this translates to a need for collaboration, innovation, and a commitment to delivering high-quality, user-centric solutions that drive business results within a large, established corporate framework. The "Roundel" initiative suggests a strategic investment in their advertising and monetization capabilities.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Lead UX Product Designer. This is a senior individual contributor role, responsible for driving complex initiatives, defining experience strategy, and mentoring others. It signifies a significant level of autonomy and influence within the design organization.

Reporting Structure: The role reports into a UX leadership position within the Guest UX team, likely a Director or Senior Manager of UX Design. You will collaborate closely with Product Management, Engineering, and Marketing counterparts.

Operations Impact: This role has a direct impact on Target's digital advertising and monetization capabilities through the Roundel initiative. By improving campaign management and measurement tools, it directly influences revenue generation, partner satisfaction, and the efficiency of Target's ad tech operations. The AI-powered aspects suggest a forward-looking impact on optimizing these processes.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in ad tech, AI-driven design, and complex enterprise software design.

• Leadership: Advance to a Senior Lead or Managerial position within UX, taking on more strategic oversight or people management responsibilities.

• Cross-functional Exposure: Gain broader experience by working on other critical digital initiatives at Target, leveraging the company's vast digital ecosystem.

• Skill Development: Opportunities to explore new design tools, AI applications in design, and advanced research methodologies.

• Strategic Influence: Contribute to the long-term vision and roadmap for Target's advertising technology and digital partner experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: A "Lead" role at a company like Target offers significant opportunities for career progression. The specific focus on ad tech and AI positions the candidate to be at the forefront of a growing area within retail, potentially leading to future leadership roles in specialized product design domains or broader UX management.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid ("Flex for Your Day"). This arrangement allows for a blend of remote work and in-office presence, providing flexibility while maintaining opportunities for in-person collaboration. Target's headquarters in Minneapolis offers modern office spaces designed for collaboration and innovation.

Office Location(s): 1000 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403-2542. This is Target's corporate headquarters, a central hub for many strategic teams.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model encourages in-person collaboration for key meetings, workshops, and team building, while remote work allows for focused individual work.

• Tools & Technology: Access to industry-standard design and prototyping tools (e.g., Figma), collaboration platforms, and potentially internal Target design systems.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities to engage with a diverse group of UX designers, researchers, content strategists, product managers, and engineers, fostering a rich learning and collaborative ecosystem.

Work Schedule: While a standard 40-hour work week is typical, the "Flex for Your Day" hybrid arrangement offers flexibility in structuring the work week, balancing individual focus time with collaborative needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid "Flex for Your Day" model is designed to offer the best of both worlds: the focus and flexibility of remote work, combined with the collaborative benefits of in-office presence. For a Lead UX Designer, this means strategic use of office time for high-impact interactions and remote time for deep work and design execution.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a recruiter call to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.

• Portfolio Review & Design Challenge: A presentation of your portfolio, focusing on relevant case studies, followed by a design exercise. This might involve a take-home challenge or a live whiteboarding session to assess problem-solving skills, strategic thinking, and design process.

• Team Interviews: Meetings with potential peers, cross-functional partners (Product, Engineering), and hiring managers to evaluate collaboration style, technical expertise, and leadership potential.

• Final Interview: Often with senior leadership to discuss strategic vision and overall fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Selectively: Focus on 2-3 case studies that best showcase your experience in ad tech, complex systems, AI integration, and lead-level contributions.

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the design process, key decisions made, challenges overcome, and the measurable impact (quantitative and qualitative).

• Highlight Strategy: Emphasize your strategic thinking, how you translated business goals into design solutions, and how you used data to inform your approach.

• Showcase Tools: Demonstrate proficiency with Figma and any other relevant design or prototyping tools.

• Address AI Integration: If possible, include examples of how you've used or considered AI in your design process or designed for AI-powered features.

• Explain Your Process: Be ready to walk through your design process step-by-step, explaining your rationale at each stage.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Domain: Research Target's business, its ad tech offerings (Roundel), and common challenges in campaign management and advertising platforms.

• Practice Problem-Solving: Be prepared for scenario-based questions that require you to think critically about user needs, business objectives, and technical constraints.

• Articulate Your Thinking: Practice explaining your thought process clearly and concisely, as if you were presenting to a mixed audience of designers, product managers, and engineers.

• Focus on Impact: Frame your solutions in terms of their potential impact on user experience, business goals, and operational efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the specialized nature of ad tech and AI, the portfolio review and design challenge will likely focus heavily on a candidate's ability to handle complexity, think systemically, and understand the nuances of advertising platforms. Candidates should prepare to discuss their experience with data-driven design and the strategic implications of their UX decisions.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (explicitly mentioned as advanced proficiency required). Experience with other tools like Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite, or InVision may be beneficial but Figma is key.

• User Research: Tools for usability testing, user interviews, surveys (e.g., UserTesting.com, SurveyMonkey, Lookback).

• Collaboration: Jira, Confluence, Slack, Microsoft Teams for cross-functional communication and project tracking.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Experience with analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics) to understand user behavior and performance metrics.

• Proficiency in interpreting data to inform design decisions and measure impact.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a CRM role, understanding how design impacts user journeys within broader customer/partner ecosystems is valuable.

• Familiarity with workflow automation concepts as they relate to ad campaign management and optimization.

• Understanding of how AI/ML models integrate with user-facing systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on Figma is critical. Candidates should highlight their advanced skills in this tool. Familiarity with AI/ML concepts and how they translate into user interfaces is also a key differentiator for this role. Understanding the data pipeline and how design interacts with analytics and reporting for ad tech is also important.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Guest-Obsessed: A deep commitment to understanding and serving the needs of Target's guests and partners.

• Data-Driven: Utilizing data and insights to inform decisions, measure success, and drive continuous improvement.

• Collaborative: Working effectively across teams and disciplines to achieve shared goals.

• Innovative: Embracing new ideas, technologies (like AI), and approaches to solve complex problems.

• Efficient: Striving for streamlined processes and optimized workflows that deliver value.

• Accountable: Taking ownership of design outcomes and their impact on the business.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Active partnership with Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, and Data Science teams to ensure cohesive product development.

• Constructive Feedback: A culture of open communication and feedback exchange to elevate design quality and product effectiveness.

• Knowledge Sharing: Encouraging the sharing of best practices, learnings, and new techniques within the UX team and broader organization.

• Agile and Iterative: Working within agile development cycles, embracing iterative design and quick feedback loops.

📝 Enhancement Note: Target's emphasis on its values provides a framework for how teams operate. For a UX role, this means demonstrating a user-first approach, leveraging data for strategic decisions, and actively collaborating with diverse teams to achieve business objectives within the retail context. The "Roundel" initiative likely fosters a culture of innovation and data-driven optimization.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Complexity of Ad Tech: Designing for intricate advertising platforms with numerous variables, technical constraints, and diverse user needs (advertisers, operators, internal teams).

• Integrating AI: Translating complex AI/ML decisioning logic into intuitive and explainable user interfaces, ensuring trust and transparency.

• Balancing Stakeholder Needs: Satisfying the requirements of multiple stakeholders with potentially competing priorities (e.g., advertisers vs. Target's monetization goals).

• Scalability: Designing solutions that can scale across a large enterprise and adapt to evolving ad tech trends and AI capabilities.

• Legacy Systems: Potentially needing to integrate new designs with existing ad tech infrastructure.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Ad Tech Specialization: Becoming an expert in the rapidly evolving field of digital advertising technology and its intersection with AI.

• AI in Design: Exploring and applying cutting-edge AI-powered tools and methodologies to enhance the design process and user experiences.

• Strategic Product Leadership: Developing skills in defining product vision, influencing roadmaps, and leading complex initiatives.

• Cross-Functional Expertise: Gaining deeper insights into product management, engineering, and marketing strategies within a large retail organization.

• Mentorship: Developing leadership and coaching skills by mentoring junior designers and contributing to the growth of the UX team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role presents a significant opportunity to work at the cutting edge of retail ad tech and AI. The challenges are substantial but come with commensurate growth potential for designers interested in specialized, high-impact areas.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a complex ad tech feature you designed. What were the key challenges, how did you approach them, and what was the outcome?"

• "How would you translate a machine learning model for ad campaign optimization into an understandable UI for a marketer with limited technical background?"

• "Walk me through your process for defining experience blueprints for a new ad campaign management workflow."

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Target and specifically the Roundel initiative within Guest UX?"

• "How have you championed user-centered design in previous roles, especially when faced with competing business priorities?"

• "Describe a time you mentored a junior designer. What was your approach, and what was the result?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Tell a Story: Structure your case studies as narratives, highlighting the problem, your role, the process, key decisions, and the impact.

• Focus on Strategy & Impact: Emphasize your strategic thinking, how you used data, and the measurable business outcomes achieved by your designs.

• Showcase Complexity: Select examples that demonstrate your ability to handle complex systems, workflows, and AI integration.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your design choices, research methods, and collaboration.

• Demonstrate Figma Proficiency: Be ready to discuss your workflow and advanced features used within Figma.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interviewers will be assessing not just design skills but also strategic thinking, problem-solving abilities within a complex domain (ad tech/AI), and leadership potential. Candidates should prepare to articulate their value proposition in terms of driving business results through user-centered design.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Lead UX Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Workday link: https://target.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/targetcareers/job/1000-Nicollet-Mall-MinneapolisMN-55403-2542/Lead-UX-Product-Designer---Guest-UX_R0000424417

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience in product design, UX, ad tech, AI, complex systems, Figma, and mentorship. Quantify achievements wherever possible.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 strong case studies demonstrating your work on ad tech or complex digital platforms, focusing on strategy, process, and impact. Ensure Figma proficiency is evident.

• Prepare for Design Challenges: Practice thinking through complex UX problems, articulating your process, and justifying your design decisions, especially those involving AI and data.

• Research Target: Understand Target's business, its UX philosophy, and the significance of the Roundel and Guest UX initiatives to prepare informed answers during interviews.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.