Director, Business Travel - Operations & Compliance

Ford • Dearborn, MI

13h • $141,700 - $268,300 • Hybrid

About The Position

Ford is seeking a strategic, operationally strong Director of Business Travel to lead and modernize its global travel program. The role owns the end-to-end employee travel experience, from pre-trip assessment and approval through booking, travel, expense submission, and reimbursement. It aims to create a simpler, more intuitive experience while strengthening governance, compliance, and cost discipline.

The Director will streamline, standardize, and automate travel processes by connecting fragmented workflows, reducing manual steps, and using technology, data, and intelligent automation to build a scalable, digital-first travel ecosystem. The position leads Ford’s global travel strategy and team, oversees suppliers and technology providers, and works across functions and regions to improve service delivery and adoption.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Supply Chain, Hospitality, Information Systems, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in global business travel, travel and expense, shared services, procurement, finance operations, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated success transforming complex, global processes through simplification, standardization, digitization, and automation.
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end travel and expense ecosystem, including approvals, travel management companies, online booking tools, corporate cards, expense platforms, reimbursement, and compliance controls.
• Experience leading global suppliers and technology-enabled services.
• Strong analytical capability and demonstrated use of data to improve controls, cost, service, and employee experience.
• Proven ability to lead across organizational boundaries and influence senior stakeholders in a complex global environment.
• Strong change leadership, communication, and program-management skills.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States; employment eligibility verification is required at hire.

Responsibilities

• Lead Ford’s global business travel strategy and end-to-end travel lifecycle, including trip initiation, pre-trip assessment and approval, booking, traveler support, corporate card processes, expense reporting, and reimbursement.
• Integrate immigration, tax, security, and other compliance requirements into the travel journey while reducing friction, handoffs, duplicate data entry, and administrative burden.
• Develop and execute a multi-year roadmap to simplify, digitize, and automate global travel processes.
• Partner with technology teams and providers to integrate approval, booking, card, expense, and compliance platforms, and enable automated approvals, embedded policy controls, and exception-based management.
• Own global travel policy, governance, approval authorities, exceptions, and audit controls, balancing compliance and financial discipline with speed, simplicity, and traveler experience.
• Oversee travel suppliers, technology providers, and commercial performance; partner with Procurement and Finance on sourcing, contracts, negotiated programs, and supplier accountability.
• Establish measurable service standards and use employee feedback, journey mapping, dashboards, and operational analytics to improve service, policy compliance, cost, productivity, and adoption of approved channels and preferred suppliers.
• Lead and develop a global travel team to ensure consistent, high-quality delivery across regions.
• Build partnerships across HR, Finance, Procurement, Tax, Immigration, Security, Technology, Legal, and business leadership; clarify ownership across the travel lifecycle.
• Lead global change management and adoption of new policies, processes, and technologies.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, and subsidized back-up child care.
• Family-building benefits, including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement and fertility treatments.
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases.
• Tuition assistance.
• Employee resource groups.
• Paid time off for individual and team community service.
• Vacation time, sick/personal time, and paid holidays, including between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.

What This Job Offers

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