Lead Engineering Technician| Vehicle

Ford Motor Company; Palo Alto (CA); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 159,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision coverage

Vehicle discount program

Tuition assistance

Paid time off & holidays

Job summary

Ford Motor Company is seeking a Lead Engineering Technician to perform vehicle instrumentation, test setup, and test execution alongside a team of technicians. The role requires coordinating daily assignments, providing technical guidance, and partnering with Engineering to translate needs into actionable work.

You will support testing across garage, on-road, and test facilities, including fault injection, dynamics, braking, durability, and NVH, ensuring high-quality data and reliable test

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or equivalent.
• Proficiency in vehicle instrumentation, sensors, data acquisition, vehicle networks, and test support.
• Ability to lead while contributing to the work and maintaining accountability.
• Ability to translate engineering requirements into executable work.
• Strong judgment, communication, organization and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Perform vehicle and subsystem instrumentation, data acquisition system setup, test preparation, troubleshooting, and test support with technicians.
• Lead daily activities by prioritizing work based on test schedules and program priorities.
• Partner with Engineering to understand test objectives, instrumentation requirements, timing, and deliverables.
• Install, configure, validate, troubleshoot, and remove sensors and data loggers.

Skills

Vehicle instrumentation

Data acquisition

Vehicle networks

Test support

Leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering

Job description

We made history and now we work to transform the future – for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.

Ford’s Electric Vehicles, Digital and Design (EVDD) team is charged with delivering the company’s vision of a fully electric transportation future. EVDD is customer‑obsessed, entrepreneurial, and data‑driven and is dedicated to delivering industry‑leading customer experience for electric vehicle buyers and owners. You’ll join an agile team of doers pioneering our EV future by working collaboratively, staying focused on only what matters, and delivering excellence day in and day out. Join us to make positive change by helping build a better world where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams.

In this position...

The Lead Engineering Technician is responsible for performing vehicle instrumentation, test setup, and test execution alongside a team of technicians. In addition to completing technical work, this role will coordinate daily assignments, provide technical guidance, and partner with Engineering to translate immediate test needs into executable work.

This position will support testing in the garage, on road, and at test facilities, including fault injection, vehicle dynamics, braking, handling, durability, thermal, NVH, and other vehicle development activities.

• Perform vehicle and subsystem instrumentation, data acquisition system setup, test preparation, troubleshooting, and test support alongside the technician team.
• Lead daily activities by assigning and prioritizing work based on test schedules, vehicle availability, Engineering needs, and established program priorities.
• Partner directly with Engineering to understand test objectives, instrumentation requirements, timing, and expected deliverables.
• Install, configure, validate, troubleshoot, and remove sensors, instrumentation wiring, data loggers, and related test equipment.
• Configure DAQ and verify sensors, data acquisition channels, and vehicle-network signals to ensure accurate and reliable test data.
• Prepare and support vehicles for vehicle dynamics, braking, handling, durability, thermal, NVH, road, and proving-ground testing.
• Participate in hands on test execution, including pre test inspections, system checks, system troubleshooting, and teardown.
• Verify sensor operation, calibration status, signal quality and vehicle configuration, before releasing vehicles for testing.
• Troubleshoot instrumentation and data-quality issues in partnership with Engineering.
• Provide technicians with technical instruction while working alongside them to resolve complex installations, test setups and system issues.
• Review completed work and maintain accurate documentation on instrumentation records, calibration information, channel lists, issues, and deviations.
• Communicate vehicle readiness, work status, test findings, risks, and blockers to Engineering and management.
• Track assignments, test requests, issues, and deliverables using Jira and other Atlassian tools.
• Identify tooling, equipment, material, vehicle, or workspace constraints and escalated them to management.

You’ll have...

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
• Proficiency in vehicle instrumentation, sensors, data acquisition, vehicle networks, and test support.
• Ability to lead while contributing to the work, setting priorities, guiding technicians, and maintaining accountability.
• Ability to translate engineering requirements, drawings, schematics, and procedures into executable work.
• Strong judgment, communication, organization, and problem‑solving skills in a changing environment.
• Ability to communicate and document work status, findings, risks, configurations, and open issues.
• Ability to work safely and maintain an organized, efficient work environment.
• Even better, you may have… Ability to serve as a working lead in an automotive test, prototype, motorsports, aerospace, or similar development environment.
• Proficiency with vehicle instrumentation, data‑acquisition, and dynamics‑measurement systems.
• Knowledge of high‑voltage electric vehicles, electrical safety, vehicle software flashing, and module or data‑logger configuration.
• Familiarity with Linux, scripting, technical documentation, configuration control, and engineering workflow tools.
• Ability to develop and improve instrumentation standards, test procedures, and data‑quality processes.

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, subsidised back‑up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount programme 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 7 and ranges from $95,300-$159,400.

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.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorised 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, colour, 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. #UEV