AI-First Backend Engineer for Scalable Data Systems

Ford Motor Company; Dearborn (MI); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Hybrid work model

Vehicle discount program

Tuition assistance

Employee resource groups

Paid time off

Paid holidays

Job summary

Ford Motor Company is seeking a hands-on Data Scientist to turn complex data into actionable insights and scalable analytics. You will collaborate with data science, AI, and business teams to solve challenging problems and deliver data-driven solutions.

In this hybrid role, you will build production-grade Python services, design scalable data models with BigQuery and PostgreSQL, and contribute to AI-enabled product development. A strong background in data science and cloud tech is essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's in Data Science, Computer Science, or related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 6+ years of experience in data science, data engineering, or software engineering.
• 3+ years of experience building and operating cloud-based workloads, preferably on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Experience developing data pipelines, analytical solutions, and CI/CD processes.
• Strong Python programming skills and experience with modern data science tools and frameworks.
• Hands-on experience with AI coding agents and validating AI-generated outputs.
• Solid data modeling skills and experience with BigQuery and analytical workloads.
• Familiarity with Git, cloud infrastructure, observability, and performance optimization.
• Working knowledge of front-end or full-stack development.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to mentor and coach others.
• An automation mindset focused on improving efficiency and scalability.
• Curiosity about the business and the ability to translate business needs into data-driven solutions.

Responsibilities

• Enable an AI-First, Spec-Driven Development Model by creating clear specs and guidelines for AI coding agents.
• Leverage AI prompts and repository conventions to streamline development workflows.
• Establish quality controls for AI-generated code with automated testing, security scanning, and static analysis.
• Evaluate emerging AI tools and practices, including agentic workflows and evaluation frameworks.
• Build and maintain production-grade Python services and secure, versioned APIs.
• Design scalable data models using BigQuery and PostgreSQL.
• Develop and optimize data and machine learning pipelines with data scientists.
• Support AI-driven applications with scalable backend solutions.
• Design and maintain CI/CD pipelines and environment automation on GCP.
• Replace manual deployments with self-service tools and templates, and implement observability and rollback capabilities.

Skills

Python

BigQuery

PostgreSQL

GCP

CI/CD

APIs

Git

Data Modeling

Cloud

Mentoring

Education

Data Science degree

CS degree

Tools

Pandas

Airflow

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Ford Motor Company is seeking a hands-on Data Scientist to turn complex data into actionable insights and scalable analytics. You will collaborate with data science, AI, and business teams to solve challenging problems and deliver data-driven solutions.

In this hybrid role, you will build production-grade Python services, design scalable data models with BigQuery and PostgreSQL, and contribute to AI-enabled product development. A strong background in data science and cloud tech is essential.