Visual Design Principle

Lincoln Motor Company; Indianapolis (IN); Hybrid; USD 167,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision coverage

Family care days & parental leave

Vehicle discount program

Tuition assistance

Paid time off & holidays

Volunteer time off

Job summary

Lincoln Motor Company seeks a principle-level In-Cabin + Visual Design expert to shape motion and visual design across Ford/Lincoln digital experiences. You will define principles, guide cross-functional teams, and elevate design quality through mentorship and strategic partnerships.

You’ll lead design governance, collaborate with engineering, product, and research, and ensure experiences are clear, intuitive, and consistently high across in-vehicle and connected touchpoints.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent education and experience.
• 8+ years in visual design and/or motion for digital products.
• Strong portfolio showing high-level visual craft and design systems.
• Experience defining, evolving, and scaling design principles across products or teams.
• Proficiency with design and prototyping tools listed in this posting.

Responsibilities

• Set and communicate a clear vision for visual design across Ford and Lincoln digital experiences.
• Lead evolution of visual design and motion standards, patterns, and guidance for DPD.
• Shape high-impact design work from exploration to delivery.
• Create exemplar work demonstrating quality and interaction principles.
• Collaborate with leaders to resolve design challenges and deliver cohesive experiences.
• Guide teams in applying design principles consistently across products.

Skills

Visual design

Motion design

Design systems

Prototyping

Communication

Mentorship

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent education/experience

Tools

Figma

ProtoPie

Adobe Creative Cloud

After Effects

Rive

3D animation tools

Job description

As a principle-level contributor on Ford’s Digital Product Design team, you’ll shape how Ford and Lincoln experiences look, move, and feel across in-vehicle systems, connected devices, and mobile applications. You’ll establish the vision and design principles for motion and visual design across complex, connected experiences, and influence how they are translated into cohesive, high-quality products.

As the In-Cabin + Visual Design Principle in Design DNA, you’ll serve as a subject matter expert and trusted design authority—bringing deep expertise, exceptional craft, and a systems-level perspective to Ford’s digital experiences. You’ll define and evolve the principles and standards that guide motion and visual design across teams and touchpoints, while using exemplar work to demonstrate what great looks like. Through strategic partnership, thoughtful guidance, and mentorship, you’ll elevate design quality across the organization and help ensure every experience feels clear, intuitive, and unmistakably Ford.

What you’ll do:

• Set and communicate a clear vision for visual design across Ford and Lincoln digital experiences, aligning design direction with brand, customer, product, and technical needs.
• Lead the evolution and governance of visual design and motion standards, patterns, and guidance for DPD.
• Shape high-impact design work from early exploration through prototyping and delivery, bringing clarity to complex or ambiguous problems.
• Create and guide exemplar work that demonstrates the quality, craft, and interaction principles expected across products.
• Partner with UX, product, research, brand, and engineering leaders to resolve design challenges and deliver cohesive experiences across in-vehicle and off-vehicle touchpoints.
• Guide teams in applying visual design and motion principles consistently, while adapting appropriately to different products, contexts, and platforms.
• Collaborate with engineering to assess feasibility, define implementation approaches, and maintain design intent through development.
• Lead design critiques and reviews; provide clear, constructive feedback that strengthens work and develops design capability across the organization.
• Mentor and influence designers, helping them grow their visual design and motion skills and deliver stronger outcomes.
• Use customer research, competitive and industry insights, and knowledge of the automotive landscape to inform design direction and identify opportunities.
• Present design strategy, concepts, and recommendations to partners and senior stakeholders, building alignment and supporting sound decisions.
• Help improve design processes, documentation, and handoffs so visual design can be applied consistently and effectively at scale.

Minimum Requirements:

• A bachelor’s degree in graphic design, visual communication, interaction design, digital product design, or a related field—or equivalent education and experience.
• 8+ years of experience in visual design and/or motion for digital products, including work on complex, consumer-facing experiences.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating high-level visual craft, design systems or languages, and consistent execution across interactive experiences.
• Experience defining, evolving, and scaling design principles, standards, patterns, or guidelines across products or teams.
• Proficiency with modern design and prototyping tools such as Figma, ProtoPie, Adobe Creative Cloud, After Effects, Rive, and/or 3D animation tools.
• Experience leading design work across disciplines and influencing partners without relying solely on formal authority.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, including the ability to explain design rationale and build alignment with diverse stakeholders.
• A collaborative, constructive approach to critique, feedback, and shared problem-solving.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with multidisciplinary product teams that include researchers, designers, product managers, and engineers.
• Experience shaping design direction across multiple products, platforms, or customer touchpoints.
• Experience creating motion specifications, production-ready assets, and documentation that support engineering implementation.
• Experience bringing digital products or services from early concept through launch and ongoing evolution.
• Experience mentoring designers or contributing to the growth of a design practice.
• A strong interest in brand expression, digital product design, and the automotive or mobility industry.
• Familiarity with the constraints and opportunities of in-vehicle interfaces and connected experiences.

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 leadership level 5 and ranges from $167,000-$280,000.

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 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.

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