Associate Director, Defense Business & Strategy

Ford Motor • Dearborn, MI

5d • Hybrid

About The Position

We operate as an agile, startup environment within Ford Motor Company. This is a highly collaborative team and we are looking for teammates who are hungry to innovate and willing to put on multiple hats to make the team successful. If you thrive in a fast-paced environment where your impact is felt daily, you will fit right in. The Business & Strategy Manager will act as the operational anchor for incubating Ford's defense opportunities. Working directly with the Director of Defense Vehicle Strategy & Business Development, you will own the daily business planning operations and directly support the implementation of our overarching defense strategy. This role requires a rare blend of strategic foresight, high-level corporate planning, and rigorous execution—ensuring that coordinated master schedules align all relevant stakeholders as we build out this new business and organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Finance, Engineering, or a related discipline required
• Minimum 7+ years of experience in dedicated corporate strategy, business strategy, or business planning roles within the aerospace, defense, or automotive sectors.
• Proven track record of creating board-level documents, corporate briefing materials, and executive presentations for C-suite audiences.
• Proven track record aligning disparate, matrixed stakeholders toward a singular launch or business initialization schedule.
• Advanced capability in building comprehensive project schedules (e.g., MS Project, Jira, or equivalent tools) and financial business models.
• Due to federal government contract restrictions, the candidate must be a U.S. Citizen and able to obtain a security clearance.

Nice To Haves

• MBA
• Direct experience standing up, launching, or incubating a new business unit or entity within the defense sector.
• Deep familiarity with automotive manufacturing timelines, platform engineering cycles, or technology commercialization paths.
• Experience working for a defense company, whether a startup or a traditional defense prime
• Military experience, for understanding the customer and their needs
• Business planner background or similar experience managing timelines and deliverables

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic development and upkeep of Ford's internal business plans, financial models, and operational frameworks for defense.
• Partner with the Director to formulate, refine, and execute long-term corporate and business unit strategies for defense market penetration.
• Author, design, and synthesize high-impact strategy documents, presentations, and whitepapers for corporate board members and senior executives.
• Design and implement the organizational blueprints, processes, and infrastructure required to stand up Ford Defense.
• Build and maintain integrated master schedules across cross-functional stakeholders (Ford Pro, FCSD, PC&I, and Engineering) to ensure synchronized milestones.
• Establish meeting cadences, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and manage progress reports for executive leadership review.
• Proactively identify, track, and mitigate operational and timeline risks across the incubating organization.

Benefits

• 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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager