Data Scientist, Repair Order (RO) Duration Analytics

Ford Motor • Dearborn, MI

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

We made history and now we work to transform the future – for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters. Do you believe data tells the real story? We do! Redefining mobility requires quality data, metrics and analytics, as well as insightful interpreters and analysts. That's where Global Data Insight & Analytics makes an impact. We advise leadership on business conditions, customer needs and the competitive landscape. With our support, key decision makers can act in meaningful, positive ways. Join us and use your data expertise and analytical skills to drive evidence-based, timely decision making. FCSA (Ford Customer Service Analytics) team, part of Sales and Services Data and Analytics (SSDA) department in Ford’s Global Data, Insight and Analytics (GDI&A) organization, is looking for a highly skilled Data Scientist. This role will be a member of the Repair Order (RO) Duration Analytics team, supporting all stages of RO duration analysis from problem formulation, model/analytical framework development, and evaluation, to model deployment to help Ford achieve RO duration optimization and efficiency objectives. The RO Duration Analytics team applies advanced quantitative methods, econometrics, and AI/ML/LLM techniques to derive insights and solve a wide variety of challenging problems in various areas of Ford Customer Service Division. This includes: RO duration forecasting, RO duration monitoring/trend study, RO duration root causes, repair process optimization and analytical support, vehicle off-road/uptime, and early quality detection… through analyzing vast amounts of data. This role will be instrumental in supporting business objectives and transformation through data-driven decision-making.

Requirements

• Master’s Degree in Data Science, Statistics, Economics, Engineering, Physics, or related quantitative field or a combination of education and equivalent work experience.
• 3+ years of experience in big data manipulation, statistical analysis, and optimization, including hands-on experience training, evaluating, and fine-tuning ML, deep learning, and forecasting models.
• 3+ years of experience processing and engineering large, high-dimensional structured and unstructured datasets (including data cleaning, preprocessing, and feature engineering).
• 3+ years of proficiency in Python and SQL (writing clean, scalable code) along with experience leveraging modern generative AI environments (e.g., OpenCode) to accelerate development and ensure quality.
• Strong problem formulation and analytical skills, with a proven ability to self-start and navigate ambiguity in environments where problems are not always well-defined.

Nice To Haves

• Ph.D. in a quantitative field such as Data Science, Statistics, Economics, Engineering, Physics, or a closely related field.
• 3+ years of experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), specifically BigQuery, Vertex AI, Cloud Build, and Cloud Run.
• 3+ years of postgraduate work experience in the automotive industry involving complex quantitative analytics and modeling.
• Strong theoretical understanding and practical experience building LLM-based applications, including autonomous AI agents or agentic workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, scale, and maintain RO duration forecasting and predictive models, leveraging operational and market inputs such as repair types, fuel types, customer segments, product quality, service parts availability, dealer capacity, and macroeconomic indicators.
• Establish and ensure high standards of data quality, model governance, and validation testing throughout the entire analytics development lifecycle.
• Lead deep-dive and root-cause analyses on vehicles with extended repair times to identify early indicators of anomalies, isolate inefficiencies, and uncover actionable insights to reduce RO duration.
• Execute high-impact, agile exploratory analyses to address critical, time-sensitive business questions by mining and transforming massive, high-dimensional structured and unstructured datasets.
• Leverage LLMs and agentic workflows to extract intelligence from data and automate analytical workflows.
• Partner cross-functionally with data engineers, software engineers, and architects to build robust model pipelines, validate outputs, and deploy scalable ML/LLM models into production GCP environments.
• Independently translate complex quantitative methodologies and modeling outputs into clear, compelling, and actionable insights for non-technical business partners and executive leadership.

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: Senior