Director, Business Travel - Operations & Compliance

Ford, Inc; Dearborn (MI); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 109,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Parental leave

Tuition assistance

Paid time off

Employee discounts

Diversity networks

Job summary

Ford Motor Company is seeking a Director of Business Travel to lead and modernize our global travel program. You will own the end-to-end employee travel experience—from pre-trip assessment through reimbursement— driving governance, cost discipline, and a digital-first journey.

You will develop a multi-year roadmap, partner with technology and procurement, and ensure policy controls, automation, and seamless traveler support across regions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree as listed in the job post.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in global business travel or related areas.
• Experience transforming global processes through digitization and automation.
• Strong knowledge of end-to-end travel and expense ecosystem and compliance controls.
• Experience leading global suppliers and technology-enabled services.
• Strong analytical capability with data-driven decision making.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders across a complex global organization.
• Strong change leadership and program-management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead global business travel strategy and end-to-end lifecycle, including approvals, booking, and reimbursement.
• Integrate immigration, tax, security, and compliance into the travel journey.
• Develop a multi-year roadmap to digitize and automate travel processes.
• Partner with technology teams to enable automated approvals and policy controls.
• Own global travel policy, governance, and audit controls.
• Oversee suppliers and program performance with procurement and finance.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Travel & expenses knowledge

Global program management

Data analytics

Change management

Stakeholder influence

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Business, Supply Chain, Hospitality, Information Systems or related field

Job description

As part of our Human Resources team, you’ll help us attract, hire and retain the top talent we need to achieve our bold vision. You’ll play a vital role in defining, developing and maintaining the winning culture that empowers diverse individuals to work together and create the impossible. We’re seeking change leaders, talent strategists, employee advocates and culture architects to enable our teams, partners, and businesses to do and be their best.

In this position...

We are seeking a strategic, operationally strong Director of Business Travel to lead and modernize our global travel program. This role will own the end-to-end employee travel experience—from pre-trip assessment and approval through booking, travel, expense submission and reimbursement—creating a simpler, more intuitive experience while strengthening governance, compliance, and cost discipline.

The Direct or Business Travel will streamline, standardize and automate today’s processes. Connecting currently fragmented workflows, eliminate unnecessary manual steps, while utilizing technology, data and intelligent automation to create a scalable, digital-first travel ecosystem.

What you'll do...

Lead Ford’s global business travel strategy and end-to-end travel lifecycle, including trip initiation, pre-trip assessment and approval, booking, traveler support, corporate card processes, expense reporting, and reimbursement. Integrate immigration, tax, security, and other compliance requirements into the journey while reducing friction, handoffs, duplicate data entry, and administrative burden for employees and managers.

Develop and execute a multi-year roadmap to simplify, digitize, and automate global travel processes. Partner with technology teams and providers to integrate approval, booking, card, expense, and compliance platforms; enable automated approvals, embedded policy controls, and exception-based management. Own global travel policy, governance, approval authorities, exceptions, and audit controls, balancing compliance and financial discipline with speed, simplicity, and traveler experience.

Oversee travel suppliers, technology providers, and commercial performance, partnering with Procurement and Finance on sourcing, contracts, negotiated programs, and supplier accountability. Establish measurable service standards and use employee feedback, journey mapping, dashboards, and operational analytics to improve service, policy compliance, cost, productivity, and adoption of approved channels and preferred suppliers.

Lead and develop a global travel team, ensuring consistent, high-quality delivery across regions. Build strong partnerships across HR, Finance, Procurement, Tax, Immigration, Security, Technology, Legal, and business leadership; clarify ownership across the travel lifecycle; and lead global change management and adoption of new policies, processes, and technologies.

You’ll have...

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Business, Supply China, Hospitality, Information Systems or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in global business travel, travel and expense, shared services, procurement, finance operations or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated success transforming complex, global processes through simplification, standardization, digitization and automation.
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end travel and expense ecosystem, including approvals, travel management companies, online booking tools, corporate cards, expense platforms, reimbursement and compliance controls.
• Experience leading global suppliers and technology-enabled services.
• Strong analytical capability and demonstrated use of data to improve controls, cost, service and employee experience.
• Proven ability to lead across organizational boundaries and influence senior stakeholders in a complex global environment.
• Strong change leadership, communication and program-management skills.

This description outlines the general nature and scope of work typically performed in this job. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, knowledge, skills, work requirements, etc. It may vary slightly based on business or geographic needs and is subject to being reviewed and updated periodically.

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
• 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
• Generous vacation time, sick/personal time, and paid holidays, including between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day

This position is a salary grade 5 and ranges from $65,100-$109,300. 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. Internal applicants: moving into this role may result in an adjustment to your current compensation based on the posted pay range for this role, taking into consideration your qualifications and other relevant factors. For more information on salary and benefits, https://fordcareers.co/LL5

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. #LI-Hybrid

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