Ford Racing Vehicle Engineering Lead – Feature & Software Delivery

Socket.dev; Allen Park (MI); On-site; USD 65,000 - 166,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

Prescription drug coverage

Parental leave

Job summary

Ford Motor Company is seeking a focused Vehicle Level Automotive Product Development engineer to lead the program content and feature delivery for vehicle platforms. You will translate customer insights into system requirements and drive cross-functional alignment to deliver emotive vehicle experiences.

The role requires BS in engineering and 1+ year of vehicle-level development, with a strong emphasis on collaboration across design, software, and hardware teams.

Qualifications

• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent.
• 1+ year of Vehicle Level Automotive Product Development experience across a range of attributes or feature delivery experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead vehicle-level engineering for module software readiness and program top hat content.
• Translate customer insights into vehicle-level requirements and verify cross-functional alignment.
• Ensure on-time, high-quality delivery of engineering milestones across design, software, hardware, and customer insights teams.

Skills

Engineering degree

Vehicle development experience

Education

Bachelor's in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering or equivalent

Job description

Racing is where our story began.

In 1901, Henry Ford climbed into a car he built himself—\"Sweepstakes\"—and beat America's most famous driver. He wasn't a racer, but he had to win. He did. Ford Motor Company was born from that victory.

That fighting spirit lives on in Ford Racing today. We're the engineers, strategists, and competitors who bring Ford's track-tested edge into every vehicle we build. Every track, every stage, every proving ground—that's where we prove ourselves.

The result: one of the world's most iconic brands, legendary nameplates, and a team unmatched in the industry.

Our mantra: Race to win, engineer to lead.

If you're a competitor, innovator, or performance obsessive, Ford Racing is where you belong. Help us write the next chapter.

In this position...

This role leads vehicle-level engineering for module software readiness and program \"top hat\" content (features, ergonomics, visibility, and accommodations). The position is responsible for translating customer insights into vehicle requirements, cascading those requirements into system-level engineering specs, and ensuring cross-functional alignment across design, software, hardware, and customer insights teams. The role owns validation of the final vehicle experience—from early prototypes through production and variants—while managing program documentation, resolving technical tradeoffs, and delivering all engineering milestones on time and with quality, ultimately serving as a go-to resource for delivering \"insanely great\" customer experiences.

This role is hybrid and requires at least 4 days per week onsite in Allen Park, MI.

Responsibilities

What you'll do...

• Lead Vehicle Engineering oversight for module software readiness.
• Lead Vehicle Engineering for program \"top hat\" content, including:
  • Feature delivery
  • Ergonomics
  • Visibility
  • Accommodations and usage
• Delight internal and external Ford customers and teammates by establishing a clear value proposition and serving as a go-to resource to help the team deliver.
• Lead management of all program documents and online systems related to features and program top hat delivery.

Program Feature Content Leadership

• Translate customer insights into program content and a balanced set of vehicle-level requirements that deliver \"emotional delights\" and \"insanely great experiences\".
• Resolve disconnects with key partners across the analytical design and launch process, including marketing, customer insights, program management, and design & release teams.
• Cascade vehicle-level requirements into objective, system-level requirements usable for engineering and validation, ensuring compatibility across attributes and systems.
• Interface with key functions including the design studio, energy management, hardware systems, features, and software teams.
• Continuously confirm that system-level design tradeoffs and deviations still deliver the intended vehicle-level customer experience and \"wow\" moments.
• Leverage analytical and prototyping tools to validate the vehicle-level experience through three customer experience reviews.
• Lead cross-functional technical tradeoff discussions to resolve issues at the customer experience level.
• Lead validation of the final vehicle to ensure it delivers the target emotive experiences.
• Sustain a validation mindset from initial production through final production, including all updates and variants.

Program Delivery

• Deliver all program milestones and engineering gateways on time and with quality.
• Drive Vehicle Engineering Design Validation Efficiency improvements.

Qualifications

You'll have...

• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent degree.
• 1+ year(s) of Vehicle Level Automotive Product Development experience across a range of attributes or feature delivery experience.

Even better, you may have...

• Ability to work with a cross-functional team in problem solving regarding complex issues, and to lead/facilitate those teams as needed with efficiency while building relationships.
• Clear and practical understanding of Performance Vehicle customers, their passion / pain points, and their needs and priorities.
• Solid understanding of the primary automotive systems in a vehicle and a wide range of vehicle attributes.
• Experience with software development processes, over the air updates and feature delivery.
• Proven understanding of customer insight tools and processes.
• Ability to work with a cross-functional team in problem solving regarding complex issues, excellent interpersonal skills with an effective teamwork approach.
• Outstanding self-motivation and initiative.
• Personal affirmation as a “early tech adopter.”

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 a salary grade 5 - 8 and ranges from $65,100 - $166,200. 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.

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 #FR1#LI-LC2