Off-Road Technical Specialist

Ford Motor • Dearborn, MI

8d • Hybrid

About The Position

Ford is seeking a Global Technical Specialist for Off-Road Performance to advance the company’s off-road technical capabilities. The role develops analytical capabilities grounded in real-world off-road environments to guide component-, system-, and vehicle-level requirements for power, torque, protection, and features across Ford and Lincoln vehicles. It works across functional teams, technologies, and product-positioning expectations, and updates requirements, test methods, and key performance indicators to support continuous improvement.

The position is Leadership Level 6. It is hybrid and requires onsite work four or more days per week. A Technical Evidence book outlining the candidate’s qualifications is required. Visa sponsorship is unavailable, and candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering.
• At least 8 years of experience with full-vehicle attribute development, including strong knowledge of system interactions and their impact on the full vehicle and other systems.
• At least 6 years of experience in Off-Road Tier 2 with off-road certification or equivalent.
• Experience in analytical and physical signoff of off-road vehicles.
• Experience with ADAMS, Catia/3DX, calibration tools, and vehicle signal processing.
• A Technical Evidence book outlining qualifications is required.
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Engineering.
• At least 3 years of experience with problem-solving methodologies and quality tools, such as FMEA, DOE, 8D, Six Sigma tools, and warranty analysis.
• Tier 3 Off-Road Certification with Recovery Certification.
• Experience with Ford-approved test surfaces.
• Political acumen and discernment to escalate issues effectively for leadership awareness or assistance.
• Strong planning and execution skills focused on delivery.
• A passion for data-driven inputs to coordinate interactions among complex systems and organizations.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to interface with the team and senior management.
• Demonstrated expert-level competencies and technical expertise in relevant areas, plus working knowledge of adjacent activities, customers, partners, and organizational objectives.
• Documented individual contributions to products, processes, or strategies; improvements in customer satisfaction, warranty, or total cost; or leveraging external resources such as universities and industry consortia.
• Technical documentation such as patents, invention or defensive disclosures, trade secrets, publications, reports, requirements, test methods, training materials, design guides, LOPs, program documentation, GTDS, or GPDS documentation.
• Recognition of expertise through awards or commendations, recognition by others or internal customers, or being a recognized go-to person in a technical specialty.
• Demonstrated capability and willingness to teach, coach, or mentor and to prepare training materials or instructional guides.
• Demonstrated high-level communication skills, teamwork, initiative, technical leadership, and ability to advise management and lead teams toward technical objectives.
• Participation in professional committees, societies, advisory boards, or Ford cross-functional activities and forums outside the department.

Responsibilities

• Develop robust analytical tools to guide upfront decisions and help vehicles achieve targets across the Ford and Lincoln vehicle range.
• Lead cross-functional and cross-attribute balancing to optimize trade-offs during product development.
• Use technical background, knowledge of the global technical outlook, and prior technical leadership experience to identify technical expert needs for the global Off-Road team.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Paid parental leave, new-parent ramp-up programs, subsidized backup childcare, and more.
• 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 time between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.

What This Job Offers

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