ADAS Strategy Director

Ford Motor • Dearborn, MI

12d • Hybrid

About The Position

We are the movers of the world and the makers of the future. We get up every day, roll up our sleeves, and build a better world — together. At Ford, we’re all a part of something bigger than ourselves. Are you ready to change the way the world moves? Ford is transforming the transportation industry, delivering higher levels of automation, continuously upgradeable performance, and seamless connected experiences. Software, connectivity, and data are the cornerstones of this transformation, providing the foundation for how Ford will compete and win. This role is central to Ford’s success in enabling a truly software-defined vehicle. In this position... The person in this position will be the global leader for ADAS strategy within the Technology Strategy organization, leading a multi-disciplinary team to define the future of Ford’s ADAS technology platforms. You will work closely with technical experts and executive leadership to define the compute, sensing, software, and feature roadmaps needed to keep Ford on the cutting edge of ADAS technology, while ensuring these systems meet corporate cost, quality, and complexity objectives. You will also be responsible for managing Ford’s ADAS investment portfolio—ensuring sufficient resources to achieve our objectives and driving clear tradeoff decisions where needed. In addition, you will lead systematic competitive intelligence and benchmarking across OEMs, suppliers, startups, and ecosystem partners, leveraging supplier relationships, industry consortiums, competitive tear-downs, and major tech events to inform strategy. You will serve as the company’s subject-matter expert on current and future ADAS industry trends, competitive analysis and threat identification, and ADAS technology migration across Ford’s global portfolio.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, or a related field
• 10+ years of leadership experience in the automotive technology space, delivering multiple complex initiatives in cross-functional environments
• Experience translating technical initiatives into business and profitability analyses to ensure efficient capital allocation
• Strong oral and written communication skills, with demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate in diverse, cross-functional environments
• Proven team-leadership experience, including working directly with senior and executive leadership

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Engineering or an MBA
• Direct experience with ADAS technologies, including sensing (radars, cameras, ultrasonics), ADAS-specialized compute, and motion-control interfaces
• Direct experience leading strategic initiatives and technology unit and/or vehicle program milestones
• Highly technical background and demonstrated experience in the domains of the ADAS features being developed
• Experience with embedded vehicle architectures—ideally Ford’s FNVx architecture—including roadmaps, constraints, and integration for highly complex and distributed systems/features on- and off-board
• Experience developing diagrams and visual frameworks to communicate complex concepts
• Experience in product or technical program management for complex systems, or leading engineering feature delivery
• Hyper-collaborative, team-centric leadership style that encourages and partners with teams and leaders at all levels to advance the integration of digital experiences
• Strong executive presence and leadership skills—the ability to drive discussions, provide clear direction, and update senior leaders succinctly
• Tenacity and comfort working in evolving states of ambiguity

Responsibilities

• Own Ford’s global ADAS strategy
• Work closely with subject-matter experts and executive leadership to synthesize industry trends, portfolio needs, and corporate objectives into a forward-looking ADAS strategy that keeps Ford at the leading edge.
• Define future ADAS experiences and enabling technology
• Partner with engineering, product, and digital teams to define and refine key future ADAS customer experiences.
• Define the required compute platforms, sensing configurations, and software enablers to deliver those experiences.
• Manage ADAS complexity across the portfolio
• Establish and maintain a “menu” of ADAS system configurations with engineering.
• Collaborate with technology platform and vehicle program teams to develop offering strategies for each vehicle program and region.
• Evaluate complexity-driving requests through a cost–benefit lens and drive decisions to closure.
• Manage the ADAS investment portfolio within the technology cycle plan
• Ensure sufficient funding to achieve ADAS objectives, supported by accurate and traceable modeling of resource requirements.
• Raise new cycle-plan funding requests and identify opportunities for spending reduction when needed.
• Lead competitive intelligence, benchmarking, and external scanning for ADAS
• Maintain a constantly refreshed, data-driven view of the ADAS industry, including competitive trends and threats, emerging technologies, and cost-reduction opportunities.
• Leverage supplier engagements, industry consortiums, competitive tear-downs, public announcements, analyst research, and major tech/industry events to inform Ford’s ADAS strategy and roadmaps.
• Translate external insights into clear recommendations on ADAS platforms, features, and investments.
• Co-lead Technology Strategy organization initiatives
• Co-lead technology unit papers and High Priority Studies alongside matched-pair partners in the Technology Strategy organization.
• Ensure ADAS initiatives meet deliverable requirements and business case targets for uMR, uPS, and uPSC milestones.
• Maintain ADAS technology and business health databases
• Own and curate databases tracking ADAS technology proliferation, feature take-rates, and platform usage across the Ford portfolio.
• Provide a clear source of truth on ADAS business health and deployment status.
• Support the Unified Backlog process
• Review ADAS-related new demand requests for business value and technical feasibility.
• Work cross-functionally with product, engineering, and TPM to secure commitments for high-value initiatives.
• Collaborate across the global enterprise
• Partner with stakeholders across product development, digital product, technology platforms, integrated services, marketing, finance, vehicle programs, and regional teams.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up childcare 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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees