IT Software Development, Director

Overview

Senior Software Engineer Manager within the M&S Dealer Experience Platforms team. Reports to an IT Director, MarTech & Dealer Platforms. The role leads software engineering teams in a global IT function focused on digital product development, marketing and sales technologies, eCommerce, and related platforms. This hybrid role is based in Dearborn, MI, with four days on-site per week and requires full-time work authorization in the U.S.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of software engineers, overseeing a portfolio of technology projects focused on MACH-based architecture and regulatory compliance.
• Drive design and delivery of cloud-based solutions that enhance customer and dealer experiences.
• Foster technical excellence, continuous learning, and mentorship within the engineering community, including occasional hands-on coding and code evaluation.
• Collaborate with digital product managers and cross-functional teams, providing technical thought leadership.
• Contribute to the strategic vision and goals for MarTech and B2B dealer solutions, aligning with modernization initiatives.
• Ensure solutions are integrated across direct-to-customer, dealers, and vehicle enablement channels.
• Oversee end-to-end platform and ecosystem development from concept through the software development lifecycle.
• Manage existing teams, software, and service quality goals; drive multi-year roadmaps with Product Management to deliver value-driven software.
• Promote continuous improvements to agile software practices and drive OKR-aligned value with product milestones.
• Coordinate with adjacent transformation initiatives and maintain strong program management discipline.
• Support organizational change management in a changing business environment and manage internal/external relationships and contracts with SaaS, on-premises suppliers, system integrators, and industry peers.
• Ensure ongoing maintenance and support, including progress updates, architecture reviews, technical debt management, mentoring, and production support.
• Maintain Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) alignment with enterprise tooling and ensure 24x7 availability across global time zones while meeting QoS requirements.
• Oversee software version control, compliance, and cyber risk protection; manage budget and resource allocation for the team.
• Drive technical debt mitigation and foster a high-performing team through mentoring, retention strategies, and leadership development.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
• 15+ years building and maintaining complex enterprise web applications, with a focus on microservice architecture.
• 6+ years leading software engineering delivery.
• 3+ years cloud computing experience (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
• 3+ years of people management and agile delivery experience.
• Deep expertise in Java, Spring, Spring Boot, RESTful APIs, messaging, container-based development (Docker, Kubernetes), Elasticsearch, relational (e.g., PostgreSQL) and NoSQL databases, and event-driven architectures (Kafka).
• Proficiency with SAP SD, MM, WM, and FICO.
• Strong understanding of Cloud Native architectures, APIs, Domain-Driven Design, Serverless, and DevOps.
• Knowledge of multi-threading, concurrency, and microservice scalability and performance.
• Experience with Continuous Delivery tools (GitHub, ReadyAPI, Terraform, Tekton).
• Experience with testing best practices and test-as-you-code approaches, including unit and API tests.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong leadership in engineering excellence and rapid learning adoption.
• Experience leading SAP SD implementations; Order Management and Pricing experience a plus.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; ability to navigate stakeholder perspectives.
• Proven problem-solving abilities in technical and stakeholder contexts.
• Familiarity with data-centric architectures, metadata governance, and data products.
• Experience with executive-level stakeholder management and large-scale transformations with change management processes.
• Experience building world-class engineering talent and managing software product engineering and 24x7 operations.
• Experience with CRM platforms (Salesforce preferred), Customer 360, Content/Portal/Communication platforms, and MarTech stacks in retail or automotive settings.
• Experience in legacy modernization, technical debt reduction, and global 24x7 operations.
• Automotive digital platforms experience (dealer or customer-facing) is a plus.

We encourage you to apply even if you don’t check every box. Ford Motor Company is an equal opportunity employer. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities are available on request.

Benefits & Additional Information

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days and parental leave, subsidized back-up child care
• Family-building benefits including adoption and surrogacy support
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family
• Tuition assistance and established employee resource groups
• Paid time off for community service and generous paid holidays

Note: This position is a leadership level 5. For more information on salary and benefits, visit the Ford careers site. Visa sponsorship is not available. Employment eligibility verification will be required at hire. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.