Sight - Software Engineering Lead

Ford; Redford Charter Township (MI); On-site; USD 133,000 - 251,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision coverage

Parental leave

Back-up child care

Fertility treatments assistance

Vehicle discount program

Tuition assistance

Employee resource groups

Paid time off

Paid holidays

Vacation time purchase

Job summary

Ford’s Advanced Industrial Technology organization seeks a Software Engineering Manager for the Sight Vision product family. You will lead engineers to translate strategy into scalable software that supports vision-based anomaly detection and factory optimization.

You will drive 24/7 manufacturing readiness, oversee end-to-end delivery, and collaborate with product managers to align roadmaps with real-world factory constraints and data platforms.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, or related field.
• 5+ years directly managing software engineering teams with hiring/mentoring experience.
• 8+ years in software engineering, computer vision, or data-driven products.
• Deep understanding of the machine learning lifecycle across data engineering, training, inference, and monitoring.
• Extensive experience leading Agile teams, sprints, and delivery velocity.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a multi-disciplinary team of software and data engineers.
• Own the software delivery lifecycle for Sight Vision products with scalable, reliable code.
• Provide architectural oversight for software/hardware, MLOps, and platform controls.
• Collaborate with Product Managers to translate challenges into technical roadmaps.
• Ensure seamless integration with centralized data/operating platforms and edge deployments.

Skills

Leadership

Software Engineering

Computer Vision

Agile Methodologies

Mentoring

MLOps

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/AI/ML

Job description

About the Organization

We are undergoing a historic industrial shift—moving from building great vehicles to building the sophisticated, scalable systems that power them. The Advanced Industrial Technology organization was created to operationalize this shift. Our mission is not to deploy isolated tools; it is to build an ecosystem that learns from factory data, transforms it into scalable platforms, and delivers measurable enterprise value.

This organization is designed to position us as a leader in industrial innovation. We accelerate digital evolution and manufacturing excellence by integrating cutting-edge technology directly into our global operations. Our structure includes vertical business units focused on specific technology stacks, supported by shared services that ensure scale and operational consistency.

As part of this team, the Sight Vertical is responsible for building an end-to-end business around AI/ML anomaly detection products using both image data (Vision) and parametric data (Sense). This vertical transforms raw data into actionable manufacturing intelligence through products focused on visual error-proofing, defect detection, and assembly process monitoring.

The Position

Reporting to the Sight | Vision Product Family Manager, the Software Engineering Manager is responsible for the execution and technical health of the Vision product lines. You will lead the engineering team in translating strategic goals into robust, scalable software, ensuring our products meet rigorous industrial standards for global rollout.

What You’ll Be Able to Do

• Engineering Leadership & Mentorship: Lead, coach, and grow a multi-disciplinary team of software and data engineers. Foster a collaborative environment focused on continuous improvement and professional development.
• Technical Delivery: Own the software development lifecycle for Sight Vision products. Ensure the team delivers high-quality, maintainable code that meets project milestones and performance benchmarks and results in a reliable and highly scalable product.
• Architecture & Strategy: Provide technical oversight for software and hardware architecture, MLOps pipelines, technology stack selection, and controls integration. Balance the need for rapid innovation with the stability required for 24/7 manufacturing environments.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Product Managers and stakeholders to translate manufacturing challenges into technical roadmaps and executable engineering backlogs.
• Platform Integration: Ensure all vision products are built for seamless integration with centralized data and operating platforms, adhering to a 'build once, scale everywhere' philosophy.
• Operational Excellence: Drive engineering best practices, including automated testing, CI/CD, and robust monitoring for models deployed at the 'edge' (on-site factory hardware).
• Innovation: Drive innovation by integrating Agentic workflows and AI-assisted engineering tools to maximize team productivity and software quality
• Deployment Oversight: Work with site-level stakeholders to ensure technical solutions account for real-world variables such as factory lighting, line speeds, and network constraints.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, or a related technical field.
• Leadership Experience: 5+ years of experience directly managing software engineering teams, with a proven track record of hiring, mentoring, and retaining talent.
• Technical Background: 8+ years of experience in software engineering, Computer Vision, or complex data-driven products.
• Systems Knowledge: Deep understanding of the machine learning lifecycle (data engineering, model training, inference, and monitoring).
• Agile Proficiency: Extensive experience leading teams in Agile environments, managing sprints, and optimizing delivery velocity.

Preferred Requirements

• Master’s in a technical field related to Computer Vision, Software Development, or Data Science.
• Experience with MLOps platforms and cloud infrastructure (GCP).
• Experience scaling software products from a single pilot to a global enterprise footprint in an industrial or IoT context.
• Strong experience in agentic workflows is a huge plus
• Knowledge of industrial communication protocols and edge computing hardware.

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 leadership level 6 and ranges from $132,800-$250,800.

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.

Relocation assistance IS provided for this role.

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.