Ford Racing Performance Engineering Manager

Ford • Concord, NC

13h • $141,700 - $268,300 • Hybrid

About The Position

Ford Racing is seeking a talented, committed engineer to be a part of their motorsports team as the Performance Engineering Manager. The rapid growth and increasing complexity of Ford Racing’s high-performance road, track, and off-road programs demand a visionary leader to steer our Performance Engineering strategy. As the Performance Engineering Manager (LL5), you will lead Ford Racing’s elite competition performance engineering team. In this role, you will oversee vehicle dynamics, aerodynamic development, advanced simulation, trackside engineering, and data analysis to maximize the on-track and off-road competitiveness of our race cars. You will collaborate with elite global racing teams, tier-1 technical partners, and internal Ford engineering teams to win world-class races and championships, while seamlessly facilitating "Race-to-Road" and "Road-to-Race" technology transfer. This role is hybrid and requires at least 4 days onsite in either Allen Park, MI (preferred) or Concord, NC. Relocation support is available.

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive engineering experience in motorsports and high-performance racing vehicle development
• Proven track record delivering both closed-course racetrack programs and high-speed desert/off-road racing programs
• Hands-on trackside race engineering experience, including developing vehicles setups and race-day decision-making
• 3+ years formally leading race engineering teams, managing performance, and developing technical talent
• Direct experience with race tire development, objective vehicle testing, and performance data analysis in a competitive racing environment
• Experience working within a race team structure — collaborating with drivers, crew chiefs, and race operations to execute a unified performance strategy
• Experience running Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) simulation programs — developing session plans, working directly with drivers and race engineering teams to correlate simulator findings with on-track/on-trail setup and performance decisions

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Active personal or professional involvement in competitive motorsports (e.g., professional racing series, club racing, or off-road competition).
• An established, high-level network within the global motorsports, vehicle development, or advanced simulation industries.
• Experience managing multi-million dollar operational, testing, and program budgets.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a newly formed, globally integrated Performance Engineering department.
• Manage resource allocation, balance operational budgets, and build technical capability across the team.
• Act as the primary bridge between Ford Racing and Ford's production vehicle programs, ensuring that racetrack innovations (aerodynamics, lightweighting, simulation methods) are captured and integrated into Ford’s future road cars.
• Own overall vehicle performance delivery aligned to racing season schedules and program timing.
• Develop the engineering roadmap, manage development budgets, and present performance status to senior leadership.
• Lead the interface between mechanical powertrain, eDrive systems, chassis architecture, and digital performance features, optimizing the entire vehicle as a cohesive, high-performance system.
• Direct a specialized team of aerodynamicists in the design, wind-tunnel testing, CFD modeling, and track validation of all Ford Racing products.
• Oversee the evaluation of suspension/steering kinematics, packaging constraints, track width, and tire sizing to push the absolute boundaries of mechanical capability within motorsports regulations.
• Define and execute the optimization strategy for aerodynamics, power delivery, and vehicle dynamics in tight coordination with our external race team and engineering partners.
• Lead the development and utilization of Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) simulators, lap time simulation, and multi-body dynamics to accelerate pre-event setup and vehicle development.
• Oversee trackside data analysis strategy, ensuring the team effectively leverages telemetry, tire modeling, and simulation to drive continuous performance improvements.

Benefits

• 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 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: Manager