Lead Technical Program Manager

Ford Motor • Dearborn, MI

23h • Hybrid

About The Position

Ford Motor Company is seeking a Lead Technical Program Manager to lead technical program management for large strategic transformations in its Product Creation & Industrialization organization. The role aligns business process transformation with the enterprise systems and connected data needed to execute it, working across Product Development, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and IT. The manager translates program objectives into an integrated roadmap, establishes accountability, and drives cross-functional decisions that keep delivery moving.

This leadership role combines technical depth, systems thinking, operating framework development, and disciplined execution. The position guides technical program managers and integration analysts, clarifies complex dependencies, and helps teams understand how their work affects the broader Industrial System. It also partners with engineering and architecture leaders to resolve integration challenges, communicate trade-offs, and deliver coordinated outcomes.

Success means maintaining an integrated roadmap with clear milestone ownership and visible dependencies; resolving integration issues and decisions promptly; protecting end-to-end data flows and business-process readiness; and establishing clear priorities, consistent governance, and shared accountability. The position is hybrid, with an onsite requirement of four or more days per week.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• At least 5 years of experience leading complex technical programs or enterprise transformations across multiple teams, locations, and timelines.
• Experience leading cross-functional delivery, establishing accountability, influencing without direct authority, and coaching technical program professionals.
• Strong understanding of the software development lifecycle and integrated enterprise systems, including Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES).
• Ability to evaluate technical dependencies, data flows, integration risks, and downstream impacts across Product Development, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing.
• Hands-on experience with Agile delivery, PI planning, and Jira-based backlog and dependency management.
• Ability to turn complex technical issues into actionable options, drive decisions, and communicate concise program updates to senior leadership.
• Analytical rigor in root-cause analysis, risk management, and delivery planning, with a commitment to transparency, speed, technical excellence, and Ford+ behaviors.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States; employment eligibility verification is required at hire. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading Industrial System or automotive Product Development, Supply Chain, or Manufacturing IT transformation programs.
• Experience with enterprise platforms such as 3DX (Dassault Systèmes), SAP, or MMP.
• Background in software development, systems engineering, data engineering, or enterprise architecture.
• Familiarity with cloud-native architectures, Master Data Management (MDM), and migration of legacy data to modern platforms.
• Experience using Power BI or Tableau for program dashboards and Confluence for technical documentation and decision records.
• Experience managing program budgets, resource plans, or external technology partner commitments.
• Experience leading organizational change, future-state process mapping, and adoption of new delivery practices.

Responsibilities

• Translate transformation objectives into milestones, workstreams, sequencing, and delivery commitments across Product Development, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and IT; align scope and capacity with program priorities.
• Partner with architecture and engineering leads to assess system interfaces, technical hand-offs, and end-to-end data flows, accounting for downstream impacts and preserving a connected data framework.
• Establish ownership for cross-team dependencies, track integration readiness, resolve gaps before they disrupt milestones, and coordinate validation and release planning.
• Guide sprint and Program Increment (PI) planning across teams, aligning feature-level dependencies, backlog priorities, and capacity assumptions with the integration roadmap.
• Lead structured reviews of cross-functional technical roadblocks, root causes, and mitigation options; assign owners, drive containment and resolution, and escalate decisions with clear impacts and recommendations.
• Set decision-focused meeting agendas and convene engineering, business, architecture, finance, and strategy partners to evaluate scope, schedule, cost, and technical trade-offs; document decisions and follow through on commitments.
• Establish a consistent operating cadence and communicate delivery status, risks, dependencies, and decisions to program leadership; use Jira and dashboards to make progress and blockers visible.
• Set expectations for technical program managers and integration analysts, coach technical problem-solving and stakeholder communication, and foster ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Align internal teams and, where applicable, external technology partners on deliverables, integration requirements, and milestone readiness.
• Partner with business process owners to document future-state workflows, prepare teams for new ways of working, and ensure technical delivery supports vehicle program and plant adoption.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, and subsidized back-up childcare.
• 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.
• Established and active employee resource groups.
• Paid time off for individual and team community service.
• Generous 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: Senior