IT Software Development, Director

As a Senior Software Engineer Manager within the M&S Dealer Experience Platforms team, you will report to an IT Director, MarTech & Dealer Platforms. This Director reports to Suresh Kandula, CTO Integrated Services & Director Retail Services Technology, who leads a global IT function encompassing digital product development, global marketing and sales technologies, after-market sales and services, global eCommerce technologies, order fulfillment, and Contact Center Platforms. Suresh reports to Mike Amend, Chief Digital and Information Officer.

The Person This will be a technical leader with deep expertise in software engineering and a proven ability to deliver large, complex transformation initiatives. You will have a collaborative leadership style with the ability to lead, mentor, and develop a team of software engineers, influence stakeholders, and build meaningful relationships at all levels and functions of the organization. You will role model leadership behaviors and champion culture change through living the Ford OS Behaviors. You will inspire and motivate your technology, engineering, and product development teams by leveraging emerging digital technologies and agile practices to deliver quick and incremental value to the business. You will have the ability to drive transformation while also modernizing legacy IT infrastructure and applications.

You will be highly skilled in attracting and developing talent and bring a strong commitment to diversity and belonging. You will have strong communication skills, be able to work cross-functionally, in a matrixed environment and have experience in large multi-national corporations. This hybrid role requires full-time work authorization in the U.S. and is based in Dearborn, MI, with four days on-site per week.

As a Senior Software Engineer Manager, you will be responsible for leading your team to develop resilient, scalable solutions using Java and cloud-native environments, adhering to industry best practices. Your key responsibilities include :

Lead a team of software engineers, overseeing a portfolio of diverse technology projects focused on MACH-based architecture and regulatory compliance.

Drive the design and delivery of robust, cloud-based solutions that enhance customer and dealer experiences.

Foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, and mentorship within the engineering community, including occasional hands-on coding and code evaluation.

Collaborate effectively with digital product managers and cross-functional teams, providing technical thought leadership.

Contribute to the strategic vision and goals for the MarTech and Dealer (B2B) solutions, ensuring alignment with corporate priorities and modernization initiatives.

Ensure solutions are integrated across direct to customer, dealers, and vehicle enablement channels.

Oversee the implementation of platform and ecosystem approaches from concept and design through the software development lifecycle.

Manage existing footprint of teams, software, and Quality of Service goals.

Manage the execution of multi-year roadmaps and collaborate with Product Management leadership to deliver value-driven software balancing speed, scale, and quality.

Leverage and roll out continuous improvements to agile software practices.

Drive OKR driven value creation within your area and ensure alignment with product launch milestones.

Integrate with adjacent transformation initiatives and interdependencies.

Ensure strong program management discipline to achieve consistent and quality software delivery within your domain.

Support and implement organizational change management in a change-resistant business environment.

Manage key internal and external relationships and robust contract management within your scope, engaging with SaaS, On-premises supplier technology, System integrators & service providers, and industry peers.

Ensure ongoing maintenance and support within your area, including monitoring progress on programs, weekly management updates, recurring architecture and quality reviews, active technical debt management, mentoring and developing your team members, and supporting production escalations.

Align and maintain critical Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) for all software platforms and solutions with enterprise solutions and tooling.

Maintain automated detection, diagnosis, and remediation capabilities, ensuring 24x7 availability for global time zones while maintaining QoS requirements.

Ensure software versions and compliance are maintained to protect for obsolescence and cyber risks.

Manage budget and resource allocation for your team, leading staffing, sourcing, and headcount management.

Drive technical debt mitigation and remediation efforts within your domain.

Foster a high-performing team by developing and mentoring team members for retention and upskilling, identifying gap areas to bring in industry-leading talent, and contributing to a robust succession plan and leadership pipeline.

Minimum Requirements

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent professional experience.

15+ years of experience building and maintaining complex enterprise web applications, with a focus on microservice product architecture.

6+ years of experience leading software engineering delivery.

3+ years of experience with cloud computing (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).

3+ years of people management and agile delivery experience.

In-depth expertise in core technologies including : Java, Spring, Spring Boot, RESTful APIs, messaging frameworks, container-based development (Docker, Kubernetes), Elasticsearch, relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL), NoSQL solutions (e.g., Azure Cosmos DB or Cassandra), and event-driven architectures (e.g., Kafka).

Proficiency in SAP SD implementation, MM (Materials Management), WM (Warehouse Management), and FICO (Financial Accounting).

Strong understanding and practical experience with Cloud Native architectures, APIs, Domain-Driven Design, Serverless, and DevOps practices.

Thorough knowledge of multi-threading, concurrency, parallel processing, and the scalability, performance, and consistency characteristics of microservices.

Experience with Continuous Delivery processes and tools (e.g., GitHub, Ready API, Terraform, Tekton).

Demonstrated understanding of testing best practices, including the testing pyramid and "test-as-you-code" strategies, with experience developing unit and API tests.

Preferred Qualifications

Strong passion for engineering excellence, with a proven ability to quickly grasp new concepts and implement learnings.

Lead in SAP SD implementation projects, gathering requirements, configuring the system, and offering best-practice guidance. Order Management, Pricing, would be a plus.

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to articulate complex ideas and navigate differing perspectives.

Demonstrated problem-solving capabilities, both technical and in resolving stakeholder conflicts.

Familiarity with data-centric architectures, data products, metadata management, and governance.

Experience with executive-level stakeholder management.

Experience with large-scale transformation with robust change management processes.

Demonstrated expertise in building an organization of world-class talent.

Broad knowledge of Software engineering practices, Software Financial & Budget Management, Software Product Engineering Responsibility Management, and Critical 24x7 Application build and management.

Experience in managing industry-standard CRM Platforms (Salesforce is preferred), Customer 360 Solutions, Content Management Solutions, Portal Platforms, Communication Platforms is a must.

Experience in managing technologies for marketing communications, Digital / Physical / Omnichannel, and funnel management. Supporting Marketing business stakeholders with modeling (MMM), attach rate modeling.

Experience in managing end-to-end, global “MarTech” stack in retail or automotive industry.

Experience in managing B2B Communication Platforms.

Experience with legacy modernization of aging systems and architecture, including Technical Debt management and aggressive reduction techniques.

Experience with 24x7 operational support in a global engineering function.

Experience in Automotive digital platforms (Dealer or Customer facing).

You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!

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 leadership level 5.

For more information on salary and benefits, click here :

https : / / fordcareers.co / LL5SP1 (https : / / urldefense.com / v3 / __https : / / fordcareers.co / LL5SP1__;!!N_LtwI-RPugbI9wg0dJn!B4p5Ca90IrFCw4sRuy6l4gDbrhVzs1yTeqcnH6bck40-j718OT1Qc_JSU1tD61NRGSVHqhfTshrxBQo$)

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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Requisition ID : 52556