Lead Program Manager
Target Creative is the in-house creative engine that shapes how our brand shows up across every touchpoint. Our team blends craft, culture, and emerging technology to deliver guest-centered stories at scale. We're looking for a strategic, creative-minded Lead Program Manager to lead cross-functional initiatives that modernize how Target Creative teams work. Sitting within the Creative Strategy & Transformation team, this role is focused on the enablement of our creative teams helping translate future-forward tech and tooling into tangible practices that enhance storytelling, design, and production across our ecosystem. This role is deeply rooted in empathy and connection. The success of our creative technology programs depends on trust, understanding, and communication not just process. You'll lead with curiosity and respect for how creative teams work today, and help design the path to how they could work tomorrow.
While you'll work closely with partners across Marketing Capabilities, Product, and Engineering, this role does not own platform sourcing, governance, or enterprise compliance. Instead, your mission is to activate possibility for creatives and accelerate adoption through strong storytelling, thoughtful listening, and change enablement rooted in real creative needs.
Core Responsibilities
Establish strong cross-functional and cross-channel partnerships across Target. Leverage other teams within the organization to advance creative objectives. Promote and model key Target behaviors. Create an atmosphere of teamwork, collaboration, agility, attention to detail, and drive. Serve as business and operational Target Creative conduit to applicable stakeholders and partners.
Build relationships and develop routines to enable a circular feedback loop with internal Creative stakeholders to understand gaps, challenges, and opportunities in processes and playbooks and cross-share progress throughout the development process. Track enhancements that improve the guest and Team Member experience across web and app. Capture Creative use cases / problems to solve and impact.
Take objectives and distill them into digestible "problems to solve" that inspire creative and scalable solutions. Leverage user feedback, research, and networks to drive innovation and integration of new products, tools, data, and applications.
Leverage change management best practices while introducing new tools and processes to colleagues and stakeholders, gaining alignment and building positive energy at all levels. Support the discovery, pilot, and scale core capabilities to fuel an optimized experience.
Define scalable business processes, best practices and routines to operationalize new capabilities and playbooks. Establish standards and guidance across key digital merchandising levers, backed by insights. Coordinate routines across Site Merchandising team to implement best practices.
Drive program management of key process, playbooks, and data initiatives : activate CFTs, develop timing & action, track progress, risks & dependencies. Lead complex, cross-functional initiatives that integrate new technologies, systems, and workflows into creative practice. You will oversee multiple workstreams, ensuring they move forward in sync and deliver measurable impact to creative teams.
Leverage quantitative and qualitative insights to inform actions, own regular monitoring of process efficiency and progress KPIs; make pivots as necessary to drive results.
Meet users where they are by offering training and support resources that are timely, flexible, and personalized to current and future needs.
Map creative team processes and identify inefficiencies. This requires understanding the unique needs of different creative disciplines and translating enterprise capabilities into workflows that improve speed, clarity, and output.
About You
Four-year degree or equivalent experience
7+ years of experience in program management within creative, design, marketing, or innovation teams
Deep understanding of creative team structures, workflows, and production rhythms
Proven ability to manage complex initiatives from planning to adoption
Strength in building trust, facilitating feedback, and engaging teams in change
Strong organizational, communication, and facilitation skills
Familiarity with creative tooling (Adobe, Figma, 3D, GenAI platforms) and project management systems
Skilled in translating enterprise infrastructure requirements into creative team application
Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment
Key Distinctions from Similar Roles
Not a Product Manager Does not own product roadmaps, enterprise backlog, or vendor / platform governance.
Not a purely operational role Focuses on connecting enterprise tech initiatives with creative application and adoption.
Creative-First Solutions prioritize creative team needs, workflows, and craft integrity.
Change Manager • Minneapolis, MN, US