Director, IVI Systems & SW Product Engineering

Ford • Dearborn, MI

5d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of IVI Systems and Software Product Engineering is the primary architect of the execution path for Ford’s next-generation digital cockpit. This role serves as the "technical glue" for the organization, leading a high-performing global team that transforms visionary UX intent into high-quality, customer-ready software. Operating at the intersection of deep technical expertise and product ownership, the Director is responsible for the end-to-end engineering lifecycle—from early feasibility and architectural definition to production release and over-the-air (OTA) enhancements. By scaling the SPE framework, this leader ensures that every feature is technically sound, safe, and delivered with the rigor required for zero field failures.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years in automotive software or consumer electronics, with a focus on vehicle embedded development, HMI and Infotainment systems.
• Proven success as a "Leader of Leaders," managing large engineering organizations through high-stakes vehicle program deliveries.
• Deep expertise in embedded systems architecture, cloud interactions, and the translation of UX intent into implementation tasks.
• Mastery of requirement decomposition, API contract negotiation, and cross-stack integration.
• Exceptional ability to align senior stakeholders across Design, Product, and Safety (ASO) on technical execution paths.

Nice To Haves

• Experience using DTUX or similar analytics to drive engineering prioritization and feature enhancements.
• Advanced knowledge of Functional Safety (FuSa) and ISO 26262 standards.
• Master’s degree in Engineering or an MBA.
• Direct experience managing technical relationships with major silicon or software ecosystem partners.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive the end-to-end technical execution of the IVI portfolio. Ensure technical feasibility, integration, and quality across all vehicle milestones, maintaining a deep architectural understanding of system behaviors (SOA, CAN, and cloud extensions).
• Lead the translation and traceability between Product, Systems, and UX. Oversee the creation of Feature HLDs and system APIs, ensuring they align with platform constraints and vehicle configurations.
• Act as the engineering lead within the Triad partnership (Product, Design, Technical Strategy). Institutionalize architecture and design reviews to confirm specification completeness and technical alignment before implementation begins.
• Serve as the executive technical liaison to external technology partners. Oversee API integration, feature contract negotiations, and compliance with internal architectural standards.
• Lead the technical input for Program Increment (PI) Planning. Coordinate development OKRs, document engineering commitments, and ensure that technical gaps or open architecture issues are visible and tracked at the leadership level.
• Proactively identify and mitigate architecture-level and integration risks. Lead Change Request (CR) impact assessments, providing technical cost/timing estimates and risk analysis across affected ECUs and software layers.
• Establish the strategy for defect root cause isolation. Prioritize and assign complex defects based on platform impact and customer experience, ensuring the backlog is technically scoped and prioritized for the engineering teams.
• Accountable for the technical sign-off of feature releases. Ensure robust validation across simulated environments (HIL/SIL) and in-vehicle testing, covering everything from UI responsiveness to middleware and actuator-level outputs.
• Lead the delivery of over-the-air (OTA) enhancements and performance improvements, utilizing platform diagnostics and customer data to drive post-launch excellence.
• Maintain technical dashboards that track feature coverage, architecture readiness, and open risks. Report to senior leadership with a focus on engineering-level gaps and proposed technical mitigations (Sagas/Epics/Stories).

Benefits

• generous PTO
• retirement
• savings and stock investment plans
• incentive compensation
• 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
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments
• 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