Director, Core Runtime & Platform Engineering

Ford • Palo Alto, CA

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

Ford Motor Company is transforming manufacturing into a software-defined, intelligent, and globally connected system. Within the Advanced Technology & Platforms (ATP) organization, the Core vertical builds the foundational platform stack that powers this transformation across Ford’s global manufacturing network.
Core’s platform includes:
· CoreOS — the operating and orchestration layer for software-defined manufacturing
· FMIL (Ford Manufacturing Intelligence Layer) — the real-time signal, execution, and decisioning layer connecting factory systems, devices, and applications
· CoreDS — the data platform enabling traceability, analytics, and enterprise-scale intelligence
In this position…
The Director, Core Runtime & Platform Engineering leads the engineering organization responsible for the runtime, edge, connectivity, cloud infrastructure, developer platform, and reliability layers that enable CoreOS and FMIL to operate securely and at scale across plants, vehicle programs, and ATP product platforms.
This leader builds the platform backbone that connects industrial devices, controls, real-time signals, and manufacturing applications into a unified execution environment, while also delivering APIs, SDKs, and reusable platform services that allow teams to build once and scale consistently across Ford.
Reporting to the Director of Software, Controls & Diagnostics (CoreOS, FMIL & CoreDS), this role is central to delivering the runtime and signal layer that powers ATP’s “Build Once, Scale Everywhere” strategy and enables closed-loop learning across manufacturing systems.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
• 10+ years in software, platform, or infrastructure engineering
• 5+ years leading engineering teams delivering complex systems at scale
• Experience building distributed systems, runtime platforms, or edge computing systems
• Experience designing and operating cloud-native and hybrid edge-cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure; Kubernetes)
• Experience building platform APIs, SDKs, or reusable developer systems
• Strong understanding of industrial systems, factory automation, and device integration
• Distributed systems and container orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker)
• Edge computing and real-time systems
• Hybrid edge-cloud architectures and distributed control planes
• Platform APIs, SDKs, and developer tooling
• Industrial communication protocols (EtherCAT, Profinet, CAN, OPC UA, MQTT, etc.)
• Streaming and messaging systems (Kafka, NATS, Pub/Sub)
• Observability platforms (Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry)
• Infrastructure automation, CI/CD, and reliability engineering
• Building platforms that scale across multiple products, plants, or business domains

Nice To Haves

• Experience with software-defined manufacturing or industrial automation platforms
• Familiarity with TRL/MRL/IRL lifecycle models
• Experience in automotive or high-volume manufacturing environments
• Experience integrating runtime, data, and controls-adjacent systems into unified platforms

Responsibilities

• Lead the Core Runtime Platform
• Build the Core Developer Platform (APIs & SDKs)
• Industrial Edge & Distributed Systems
• Device Connectivity & Industrial Middleware
• Cloud & Hybrid Platform Infrastructure
• Real-Time Data, Telemetry & CoreDS Integration
• Observability, Diagnostics & Runtime Integrity
• Reliability, Deployment & Global Scale
• Engineering Leadership & System Execution
• Cross-Functional Platform 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: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees