EV Vehicle Integration & Software Test Lead

Ford Motor Company; Palo Alto (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 284,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision coverage

Hybrid work model

Vehicle discount program for employees

Tuition assistance

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

Ford Motor Company seeks a Vehicle Integration and Software Test Lead to drive the integration of software and systems across the electric vehicle platform in a hybrid work environment. This hands-on leadership role connects software, hardware, controls, validation, manufacturing, technicians, and suppliers to ensure robust vehicle-level testing and on-time releases.

The role blends strategic planning with hands-on execution, requiring collaboration across domains and a drive to resolve complex

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in automotive software, vehicle integration, software testing, systems engineering, or related technical roles.
• Strong understanding of vehicle architecture, embedded systems, software integration, and vehicle-level test workflows.
• Experience with CAN, LIN, Ethernet, diagnostics, flashing, and software release processes.
• Hands-on experience troubleshooting vehicle systems, integration issues, and test failures.
• Experience developing or executing software test plans for vehicle or embedded systems.
• Familiarity with automotive development tools and processes.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to lead cross-functional technical discussions.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-moving environment.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the vehicle integration roadmap and software test strategy, including validation plans, regression coverage, and vehicle-level test plans.
• Align integration and test activities with program milestones, hardware/software roadmaps, dependencies, and delivery timing.
• Lead cross-functional coordination between software, systems, electrical, mechanical, validation, manufacturing, technicians, operators, and suppliers.
• Serve as the central technical point of contact for vehicle integration and software test topics.
• Lead vehicle-level software integration and testing across major domains, including powertrain, battery management, charging, infotainment, body controls, ADAS, and connectivity.
• Partner with software and systems engineering teams to develop and execute embedded and vehicle-level test plans.
• Lead pre-merge and post-merge vehicle-level testing, regression strategy, dogfooding activities, and defect closure.
• Support software release planning and integration testing across a fleet of 150+ vehicles.
• Plan test fleet utilization, including retrofits, instrumentation, vehicle shipping, and offsite testing at locations such as winter testing, MPG, and APG.
• Coordinate prototype and production build bring-up, validation, troubleshooting, and root cause analysis.
• Establish integration and software test processes, tools, dashboards, and best practices for a growing engineering organization.
• Support calibration, tuning, data collection, logging, A2L, XCP/ATI usage, and vehicle attribute evaluations.
• Own software maturity gate sign-off for track release, road release, customer release readiness, and launch milestones.
• Document integration status, test results, risks, dependencies, and provide regular updates to engineering and program leadership.
• Escalate risks and recommend tradeoffs across quality, cost, schedule, and regression coverage.

Job description

Ford Motor Company seeks a Vehicle Integration and Software Test Lead to drive the integration of software and systems across the electric vehicle platform in a hybrid work environment. This hands-on leadership role connects software, hardware, controls, validation, manufacturing, technicians, and suppliers to ensure robust vehicle-level testing and on-time releases.

The role blends strategic planning with hands-on execution, requiring collaboration across domains and a drive to resolve complex