Cybersecurity Operations Manager, Ford Energy

Ford-Motor-Company; Dearborn (MI); Hybrid; USD 116,000 - 218,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Vehicle discount program for employees

Management leases

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

Parental leave

Tuition assistance

Paid holidays

Paid time off

Job summary

Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, MI is seeking a Cybersecurity Operations Manager to lead and modernize our global security monitoring and incident response capabilities. The role combines internal leadership with MSSP oversight across Enterprise IT, Product Cybersecurity, customer-facing apps, and Manufacturing/OT environments.

You will manage 24/7 monitoring, incident triage, and response, drive SIEM/SOAR optimization, act as incident commander during major breaches, and partner with plant

Qualifications

• 5–7 years in Security Operations (SOC), Threat Intelligence, or Incident Response, with 3+ years in leadership.
• Hybrid & MSSP management: manage vendor/MSSP contracts and SLAs, lead internal/external teams.
• Multi‑Domain SOC: experience across enterprise IT, cloud, customer apps, and OT/ICS.
• Application security monitoring: knowledge of web/API threat detection and securing customer platforms.
• Regulatory compliance: ISO 27001, NIST SP 800‑82, IEC 62443 familiarity.
• Incident management: act as Incident Commander during major breaches or outages.
• Education: Bachelor's or master's in Cybersecurity/CS/IT/Engineering or related experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead 24/7 security monitoring, incident triage, and response across domains.
• Oversee SIEM/SOAR optimization, rules, playbooks, and automated response workflows.
• Act as escalation lead and incident commander during complex cybersecurity incidents.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing/OT and ICS engineers for real‑time visibility.
• Develop and present security metrics and KPIs to executives.
• Ensure compliance with applicable security frameworks.
• Manage on‑call rotations and vendor relationships.

Skills

5–7 years SOC experience

Hybrid & MSSP management

Multi‑domain SOC

Application security awareness

Regulatory compliance

Incident management

Bachelor's/Master's degree in Cyber

Education

Bachelor's or master's degree

Tools

Microsoft Sentinel

Defender XDR

Palo Alto Networks

Web app firewalls

OT monitoring tools

Job description

In this position... We are seeking a Cybersecurity Operations Manager to lead, operationalize, and modernize our global security monitoring and incident response capabilities. This role oversees a hybrid operational model comprising internal direct reports and a managed security service provider (MSSP). The scope spans Enterprise IT, Product Cybersecurity, customer-facing applications and connected platforms, and Manufacturing/Operational Technology (OT) environments, ensuring robust detection, defense, and response across our entire digital and physical footprint.

What you'll do...

• Hybrid Team Leadership: Direct, mentor, and manage a high-performing security operations team while overseeing performance, SLAs, escalation pathways, and day-to-day operations of external MSSP partners.
• Broad-Scope Security Operations: Lead 24/7 security monitoring, incident triage, and response capabilities covering Enterprise IT networks, Cloud platforms, Product/IoT telemetry, customer-facing portals and mobile/web applications, and Manufacturing/OT facilities.
• Customer-Facing Application Security Monitoring: Own security monitoring, threat detection, and incident response for customer-facing applications, portals, and APIs — including authentication systems and customer data pathways.
• Connected Platform Monitoring: Lead threat monitoring and security telemetry analysis for external-facing platforms and the connected infrastructure linking customer environments to Ford Energy's cloud and support systems.
• SOC Engineering & Detection Quality: Drive continuous optimization of SIEM/SOAR platforms, detection rules, threat hunting playbooks, and automated response workflows to decrease mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR) across enterprise, product, and customer-facing systems.
• Incident Response Leadership: Act as the primary escalation lead and incident commander during complex cybersecurity incidents — including those impacting customer-facing services and applications — leading cross-functional containment, eradication, root‑cause analysis, and customer communication efforts.
• Manufacturing & OT Security: Collaborate with plant operations and industrial control system (ICS) engineers to ensure real‑time visibility, anomaly detection, and incident handling across manufacturing plants.
• Compliance & Regulatory Alignment: Support operational security logging, audit readiness, and incident response procedures aligned with applicable industry security frameworks and critical infrastructure requirements as needed.
• Operational Excellence & Metrics: Develop, track, and present operational security metrics, threat landscapes, customer application security posture, and SOC effectiveness KPIs to executive leadership and key business stakeholders.
• Availability: Serve as the senior operational contact and manage on‑call escalation rotations for critical security incidents, including those affecting customer‑facing platforms.

You'll have...

Required:

• Experience: Minimum of 5–7 years of experience in Security Operations (SOC), Threat Intelligence, or Incident Response, with at least 3+ years in a supervisory, management, or technical lead role.
• Hybrid & MSSP Management: Demonstrated success managing vendor/MSSP contracts, driving service delivery SLAs, and leading combined teams of internal engineers and external contractor resources.
• Multi‑Domain SOC Experience: Hands‑on leadership experience running security operations that span enterprise IT, cloud infrastructure, customer‑facing applications/platforms, and operational technology (OT) / industrial control systems (ICS).
• Application Security Awareness: Working knowledge of application security monitoring, web/API threat detection, and securing customer‑facing digital platforms and portals.
• Regulatory Compliance: Proven understanding of ISO 27001, NIST SP 800‑82, IEC 62443, or similar security frameworks relevant to connected products and critical infrastructure.
• Incident Management: Strong experience acting as an Incident Commander during major breach responses, cyber‑attacks, or critical infrastructure outages.
• Education: Bachelor's or master's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent related work experience.

Even better, you may have...

• Relevant industry certifications such as CISSP, CISM, GCIH, GCFA, GRID, or GICSP.
• Experience securing customer‑facing SaaS platforms, IoT/connected product ecosystems, or remote monitoring applications in Electric Utility, Automotive (EV/BMS), or Advanced Manufacturing sectors.
• Deep technical familiarity with enterprise and application security platforms (e.g., Microsoft Sentinel, Defender XDR, Palo Alto Networks, web application firewalls, API security tools, and OT monitoring solutions like Dragos, Claroty, or Nozomi).
• Experience partnering with product and customer experience teams to embed security monitoring into customer‑facing application development and support lifecycles.
• Strong capability to clearly articulate technical incident details, business risks, and remediation strategies to C‑level executives and customer‑facing stakeholders.

Leadership Attributes:

• A decisive, strategic leader capable of unifying diverse operational domains (IT, OT, Product, Customer‑Facing Applications) into a seamless, proactive defense posture.

Location & Travel:

• Location: Dearborn, MI/Hybrid

You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company,

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp‑up programs, subsidized back‑up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

This position is leadership level 6 and ranges from $115,500-$218,100.

Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.

For more information on salary and benefits, click here: https://fordcareers.co/LL6

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

This position is hybrid with a requirement to be onsite four or more days per week.

Company: As Ford establishes a wholly owned subsidiary focused on Battery Energy Storage Systems, this role will initially be employed by Ford and is expected to transition to the subsidiary within one year.