Director, IVI Systems & SW Product Engineering

Ford, Inc; Dearborn (MI); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, MI, is seeking a Director of IVI Systems & SW Product Engineering to lead a global team responsible for the end-to-end software lifecycle—from feasibility and architecture through OTA enhancements and production release.

The role combines deep technical execution with product ownership, ensuring features are safe, sound, and delivered with zero field failures. Hybrid work arrangement and extensive executive collaboration are expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field (CS or EE).
• 10+ years in automotive software or consumer electronics, with embedded development, HMI and Infotainment.
• Leadership as a 'Leader of Leaders' overseeing large engineering organizations.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive end-to-end technical execution of the IVI portfolio across milestones.
• Lead design and traceability from Product, Systems, UX; create Feature HLDs and APIs.
• Oversee architecture reviews to ensure alignment before implementation begins.
• Serve as executive technical liaison to external partners for API integration and contracts.
• Lead PI planning, set OKRs, and track technical gaps at leadership level.
• Identify and mitigate architecture-level risks and perform CR impact assessments.
• Set strategy for defect root cause analysis and quality with validation across environments.
• Drive OTA enhancements and platform diagnostics for post-launch improvements.
• Report engineering gaps and mitigations to senior leadership via dashboards.

Skills

Automotive software leadership

Embedded systems architecture

Cloud integrations

Cross-functional leadership

Senior stakeholder communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/EE or related tech field

Job description

Director, IVI Systems & SW Product Engineering

Dearborn, MI, United States (Hybrid)

Trending

Job Description

The Director of IVI Systems and Software Product Engineering is the primary architect of the execution path for Ford’s next-generation digital cockpit. This role serves as the "technical glue" for the organization, leading a high-performing global team that transforms visionary UX intent into high-quality, customer-ready software. Operating at the intersection of deep technical expertise and product ownership, the Director is responsible for the end-to-end engineering lifecycle—from early feasibility and architectural definition to production release and over-the-air (OTA) enhancements. By scaling the SPE framework, this leader ensures that every feature is technically sound, safe, and delivered with the rigor required for zero field failures.

Responsibilities

You Will...

• Strategic Feature Lifecycle Management: Own and drive the end-to-end technical execution of the IVI portfolio. Ensure technical feasibility, integration, and quality across all vehicle milestones, maintaining a deep architectural understanding of system behaviors (SOA, CAN, and cloud extensions).
• High-Level Design & Traceability: Lead the translation and traceability between Product, Systems, and UX. Oversee the creation of Feature HLDs and system APIs, ensuring they align with platform constraints and vehicle configurations.
• Technical Collaboration & "Product Truth": Act as the engineering lead within the Triad partnership (Product, Design, Technical Strategy). Institutionalize architecture and design reviews to confirm specification completeness and technical alignment before implementation begins.
• Partner & Ecosystem Engineering: Serve as the executive technical liaison to external technology partners. Oversee API integration, feature contract negotiations, and compliance with internal architectural standards.
• Agile Governance & PI Planning: Lead the technical input for Program Increment (PI) Planning. Coordinate development OKRs, document engineering commitments, and ensure that technical gaps or open architecture issues are visible and tracked at the leadership level.
• Risk Engineering & Mitigation: Proactively identify and mitigate architecture-level and integration risks. Lead Change Request (CR) impact assessments, providing technical cost/timing estimates and risk analysis across affected ECUs and software layers.
• Defect Triage & Quality Strategy: Establish the strategy for defect root cause isolation. Prioritize and assign complex defects based on platform impact and customer experience, ensuring the backlog is technically scoped and prioritized for the engineering teams.
• Full-Stack Validation & Sign-Off: Accountable for the technical sign-off of feature releases. Ensure robust validation across simulated environments (HIL/SIL) and in-vehicle testing, covering everything from UI responsiveness to middleware and actuator-level outputs.
• Continuous Improvement & OTA Strategy: Lead the delivery of over-the-air (OTA) enhancements and performance improvements, utilizing platform diagnostics and customer data to drive post-launch excellence.
• Executive Visibility & Metrics: Maintain technical dashboards that track feature coverage, architecture readiness, and open risks. Report to senior leadership with a focus on engineering-level gaps and proposed technical mitigations (Sagas/Epics/Stories).

Qualifications

You'll Have...

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Experience: 10+ years in automotive software or consumer electronics, with a focus on vehicle embedded development, HMI and Infotainment systems.
• Leadership: Proven success as a "Leader of Leaders," managing large engineering organizations through high-stakes vehicle program deliveries.
• Technical Breadth: Deep expertise in embedded systems architecture, cloud interactions, and the translation of UX intent into implementation tasks.
• Systems Engineering: Mastery of requirement decomposition, API contract negotiation, and cross-stack integration.
• Communication: Exceptional ability to align senior stakeholders across Design, Product, and Safety (ASO) on technical execution paths.

You may also have...

• Data-Driven Prioritization: Experience using DTUX or similar analytics to drive engineering prioritization and feature enhancements.
• Safety Expertise: Advanced knowledge of Functional Safety (FuSa) and ISO 26262 standards.
• Advanced Degree: Master’s degree in Engineering or an MBA.
• Ecosystem Experience: Direct experience managing technical relationships with major silicon or software ecosystem partners.

What you'll receive in return…

As part of the Ford family, you’ll enjoy excellent compensation, and a comprehensive benefits package that includes generous PTO, retirement, savings and stock investment plans, incentive compensation, and much more. You’ll also experience exciting opportunities for professional and personal growth and recognition.

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

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 a leadership level 4.
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.

Onsite work of up to three days per week may be required for candidates within commuting distance of a Ford hub location. #LI-MB3

Job Info

• Job Identification 61599
• Job Category Enterprise Product Line Management
• Job Schedule Full time
• Locations 20901 Oakwood Blvd, Dearborn, MI, 48124, US (Hybrid)