Manager, HR M&A and New Business Enablement

Ford; Dearborn (MI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Ford in Dearborn, Michigan is seeking a Manager, HR M&A and New Business Enablement to lead portfolio governance, practice operations and knowledge management for mergers, acquisitions, and new business standups. The role partners with senior HR leaders to maintain integrated visibility and coordinate cross‑program dependencies.

It delivers through influence, cross‑functional coordination and robust governance tools, ensuring readiness frameworks, playbooks and dashboards stay current and

Responsibilities

• Manage integrated portfolio planning, governance, reporting, and operating cadences across active mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, legal entity formations, and new business initiatives.
• Maintain portfolio-level project plans, governance calendars, milestones, risks, actions, issues, dependencies, decisions, and resource views; identify emerging concerns and coordinate timely escalation and follow-through.
• Create and maintain executive-ready dashboards, readiness scorecards, portfolio updates, and governance materials that provide leadership with clear visibility to progress, critical decisions, interdependencies, and areas requiring attention.
• Manage the team's shared methodologies, playbooks, templates, readiness frameworks, service agreement tools, governance standards, implementation toolkits, and common operating practices; ensure they remain practical, current, and reusable across initiatives.
• Ensure playbooks, trackers, decisions, governance materials, templates, and lessons learned are maintained in shared, accessible repositories that support continuity, reuse, and effective knowledge transfer across personnel and initiatives.
• Coordinate across Directors responsible for M&A, United States new business standups, and European joint ventures to improve information flow, execution consistency, cross-program alignment, workload visibility, and portfolio prioritization.
• Provide targeted program-management and implementation capacity to Director-led initiatives, including readiness assessments, workplan management, cross-functional coordination, testing and cutover support, training and change activities, and stabilization tracking.
• Analyze current- and future-state processes; facilitate requirements gathering, process mapping, workflow analysis, and operational design; and apply continuous-improvement methods to improve efficiency, scalability, control, and execution effectiveness.
• Support service agreement and vendor governance by maintaining service inventories, governance routines, deliverable and obligation trackers, performance measures, issue logs, and reusable standards for consultants, implementation partners, managed service providers, and other external providers.
• Represent HR M&A and New Business Enablement in designated governance forums, portfolio reviews, and cross-functional working sessions; communicate status, surface risks and dependencies, and coordinate follow-through while preserving substantive business and workforce decisions for the accountable leaders.
• Capture lessons learned and performance insight

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.

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...

The Manager, HR M&A and New Business Enablement manages the portfolio governance, practice operations, methodology, and knowledge-management capabilities that enable Ford's HR M&A and New Business Enablement team to execute mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, legal entity formations, and new business standups. The role establishes the operating discipline, portfolio visibility, common frameworks, and institutional knowledge required to support multiple concurrent initiatives and improve execution over time.

The Manager partners with the Executive Director and Directors responsible for global M&A, joint ventures, and new business standups. The successful incumbent will maintain integrated portfolio visibility, coordinate cross-program dependencies, track risks and decisions, and provide additional program-management and implementation capacity where needed. The role documents and maintains the shared methodologies, playbooks, readiness frameworks, service agreement tools, governance processes, and reporting mechanisms that form the operating system of the practice.

This is an individual contributor role with no direct reports; it delivers through influence, cross-functional coordination, operational discipline, and partnership with HR M&A and New Business Enablement leaders and enterprise functions. The position may represent HR M&A and New Business Enablement in designated governance forums, portfolio reviews, and cross-functional working sessions by communicating portfolio status, surfacing risks and dependencies, and coordinating follow-through on leadership decisions.

What you’ll do...

• Manage integrated portfolio planning, governance, reporting, and operating cadences across active mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, legal entity formations, and new business initiatives.
• Maintain portfolio-level project plans, governance calendars, milestones, risks, actions, issues, dependencies, decisions, and resource views; identify emerging concerns and coordinate timely escalation and follow-through.
• Create and maintain executive-ready dashboards, readiness scorecards, portfolio updates, and governance materials that provide leadership with clear visibility to progress, critical decisions, interdependencies, and areas requiring attention.
• Manage the team's shared methodologies, playbooks, templates, readiness frameworks, service agreement tools, governance standards, implementation toolkits, and common operating practices; ensure they remain practical, current, and reusable across initiatives.
• Ensure playbooks, trackers, decisions, governance materials, templates, and lessons learned are maintained in shared, accessible repositories that support continuity, reuse, and effective knowledge transfer across personnel and initiatives.
• Coordinate across Directors responsible for M&A, United States new business standups, and European joint ventures to improve information flow, execution consistency, cross-program alignment, workload visibility, and portfolio prioritization.
• Provide targeted program-management and implementation capacity to Director-led initiatives, including readiness assessments, workplan management, cross-functional coordination, testing and cutover support, training and change activities, and stabilization tracking.
• Analyze current- and future-state processes; facilitate requirements gathering, process mapping, workflow analysis, and operational design; and apply continuous-improvement methods to improve efficiency, scalability, control, and execution effectiveness.
• Support service agreement and vendor governance by maintaining service inventories, governance routines, deliverable and obligation trackers, performance measures, issue logs, and reusable standards for consultants, implementation partners, managed service providers, and other external providers.
• Represent HR M&A and New Business Enablement in designated governance forums, portfolio reviews, and cross-functional working sessions; communicate status, surface risks and dependencies, and coordinate follow-through while preserving substantive business and workforce decisions for the accountable leaders.
• Capture lessons learned and performance insight