PLM Engineering Manager

Ford Motor Company • Dearborn, MI

18h • $132,800 - $250,800

About The Position

Ford Motor Company is seeking a hands-on technical leader to manage 3DEXPERIENCE (3DX) customization, development, and high-level escalation support. The position leads a team of 3DX developers, platform engineers, and release engineers, and connects Ford business and engineering stakeholders with hosting and infrastructure teams and Dassault Systèmes. The role combines people leadership with deep technical work across the 3DX architecture, from 3DPassport and 3DSpace through 3DSearch and FCS to the database. The manager establishes engineering standards to maintain platform stability and upgrade readiness, collaborates across teams, and communicates technical issues and root causes to senior leaders in business terms.

The role owns 3DX customizations and integrations, manages critical incidents and vendor escalations, oversees platform performance and lifecycle changes, and leads capacity planning, team development, knowledge transfer, and audit support. The position is based in an environment where both delivery and accountability matter.

Ford describes its employee offering as including immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription coverage; family-care and parental benefits; family-building assistance; employee and family vehicle discounts and management leases; tuition assistance; employee resource groups; paid community-service time; paid holidays; and paid time off with an option to purchase additional vacation time. The position is leadership level 6, with a salary range of $132,800–$250,800. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of experience with Dassault Systèmes ENOVIA / 3DEXPERIENCE, including platform customization, development, and administration.
• At least 5 years in software development, software engineering, and scripting with 3DX customizations, including EKL, JPO, JAR, YAML, and supporting automation/pipelines.
• At least 3 years in a Level 3, escalation, or production-support role for enterprise PLM systems.
• At least 3 years leading or managing technical teams in an enterprise environment.
• Proven experience managing vendor support escalations with Dassault Systèmes or comparable enterprise software vendors.
• Experience working in a fast-paced, flexible industrial systems team like Ford Motor Company.
• Expert-level experience using large language models and artificial intelligence.
• Expert-level knowledge of MQL, TCL, JPO/Java, triggers, EKL, the 3DX data model, P&O security, and Unified Typing.
• Familiarity with Git/GitHub, CI/CD pipelines such as Jenkins, Tekton, or GitHub Actions, and Infrastructure-as-Code such as Ansible or Terraform.
• Proficiency in Python, PowerShell, or Bash scripting for automation.
• Proficiency in JavaScript, 3DDashboard widget (UWA) development, and REST API/web service integration.
• Deep knowledge of 3DX components including 3DSpace, 3DPassport, 3DDashboard, 3DSearch/Exalead, and FCS, and how they interact.
• Advanced skills in log analysis, JVM thread and heap dump analysis, and SQL performance analysis using Oracle and/or SQL Server.
• Strong understanding of Linux/Windows server operations, OS patching cycles, and network security including SSL and firewalls.
• Expert-level Jira proficiency for backlog management, capacity planning, and reporting; working knowledge of ServiceNow for incident, problem, and change management.
• Proven ability to set engineering standards, guide design decisions, and improve the technical capability of development and support teams.
• Proven ability to translate technical root causes and constraints into business impacts for senior leadership.
• Deep understanding of ITIL incident, problem, and change management principles and audit compliance (GRC/SOX).
• Excellent troubleshooting skills focused on root-cause analysis and prevention.
• Demonstrated ability to lead calmly and decisively during production outages and high-visibility escalations.
• Demonstrated success building relationships across Development, Infrastructure, Hosting, Business, and vendor teams to deliver under aggressive timelines.
• Legally authorized to work in the United States; employment eligibility verification is required at hire.

Nice To Haves

• CAA (C++/Java) development experience.
• SSO/SAML identity integration experience.
• Knowledge of automotive product development processes, including BOM, engineering change, and variant/configuration management.
• Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Certification (preferred).
• ITIL Certification (preferred).
• SAFe / Agile Certification (preferred).

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and delivery of 3DX customizations, including data model extensions, triggers, JPOs, MQL/TCL scripts, and EKL logic, using Dassault-supported methods.
• Guide development of 3DDashboard widgets, web forms, tables, commands, and menus.
• Own the technical design and support of integrations between 3DX and Ford enterprise systems using 3DSpace REST APIs, custom web services, and middleware.
• Oversee People & Organization configuration, including collaborative spaces, organizations, roles, security contexts, and access rules.
• Define and enforce coding standards, code review practices, and source control practices for 3DX development.
• Partner with engineering, manufacturing, and program teams to translate business requirements into technical designs and advise on out-of-the-box versus custom solutions.
• Serve as the highest internal escalation point for critical and complex incidents across the 3DX suite and related native applications.
• Lead root-cause diagnostics using application logs, MQL traces, JVM thread and heap dumps, database query analysis, and HTTP/network tracing.
• Own the support relationship with Dassault Systèmes Support and R&D, drive Service Requests to resolution, ensure reproducible test cases are provided, and validate hotfixes.
• Lead incident bridges during platform outages, coordinate response across hosting, development, and supplier teams, and communicate status to business stakeholders.
• Own root-cause reports and problem records and drive permanent corrective actions.
• Convert recurring escalation issues into knowledge articles, runbooks, and automated fixes to enable L1/L2 resolution.
• Oversee performance tuning across JVM/TomEE configuration, databases, indexing, caching, and FCS file throughput.
• Own technical impact analysis of customizations for upgrades, Functional Deliveries, and hotfixes; lead regression testing and support cutover execution.
• Ensure customizations and platform changes follow ITIL-aligned change management processes, are documented, and have appropriate approvals before promotion through Dev, Test, QA, and Prod.
• Drive automation for deployments, bulk data operations, and platform health checks within Ansible and CI/CD pipelines.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of 3DX developers and escalation engineers, including hiring, performance management, and technical career growth.
• Lead capacity planning using Jira to track bandwidth, forecast constraints, and assign resources based on business priorities and escalation demand.
• Build technical depth across L1/L2 support through training, code reviews, and hands-on troubleshooting coaching.
• Provide technical leadership and evidence for IT audits, ensuring 3DX customizations and changes comply with GRC, IFAR, and ASAR requirements.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, and subsidized backup child care.
• 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.
• 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
• Education Level: No Education Listed