Senior Director, Central Data Engineering

Ford Motor • Dearborn, MI

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

We are the movers of the world and the makers of the future. We get up every day, roll up our sleeves and build a better world -- together. At Ford, we’re all a part of something bigger than ourselves. Are you ready to change the way the world moves? Enterprise Technology plays a critical part in shaping the future of mobility. If you’re looking for the chance to leverage advanced technology to redefine the transportation landscape, enhance customer experience and improve people’s lives, this is the opportunity for you. Join us and challenge your IT expertise and analytical skills to help create vehicles that are as smart as you are. In this position... As the Senior Director, Data Engineering , you will serve as the strategic leader for our Central Data Engineering team within the Data Platforms and Engineering organization. You will be responsible for shaping the strategic evolution of our enterprise-wide data landscape on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). You will lead our Central Data Engineering, Data Architecture, and Portfolio Data Engineering teams. In this pivotal role, you will drive the "center of gravity" for Ford’s data engineering efforts. You will move beyond tactical execution to define the forward-looking vision for how we transform raw data into trusted, well-modeled, and AI-ready assets. You will advocate for this strategy, navigating complex interfaces between business units and technical organizations to enable the entire enterprise. You will lead a high-performing organization, setting the standard for technical excellence and fostering a culture that attracts and retains the industry's top engineering talent.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related quantitative field (or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience).
• 12+ years of progressive experience in data engineering, data architecture, or software engineering.
• 5+ years of experience in a senior leadership capacity (Director level or above), managing large, layered technical teams and overseeing data-focused strategy.
• Deep expertise in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) data services (e.g., BigQuery, Dataflow, Cloud Storage, Dataproc, Pub/Sub, Composer) or equivalent hyperscaler technologies.
• Proven track record of designing and building scalable ETL/ELT pipelines and data warehousing solutions in a complex enterprise environment.
• Strong understanding of AI/ML concepts and experience engineering data specifically to support AI efforts.
• Demonstrated experience with data governance, data quality, and data security best practices.
• Proficiency in SQL and at least one major programming language (Python, Java, or Scala).
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear strategic vision for non-technical executive stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• Experience in the automotive or manufacturing industry.
• Practical experience implementing Data Mesh principles or similar decentralized data architectures at scale.
• Experience with modern data stack tools and visualization platforms (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker).

Responsibilities

• Strategic Thought Leadership & Vision: Serve as a primary strategic thought leader for the Data Platforms and Engineering organization, helping to shape the organizational strategy for how data is engineered, consumed, and leveraged across Ford. Advocate for the data strategy and navigate the complexities of implementation as it interfaces with diverse business units (e.g., Finance, Industrial Systems, Marketing) and other technical organizations. Articulate a clear vision and roadmap for Central Data Engineering that unifies our enterprise data strategy with broader business objectives. Champion the concept of "data as a product" at an enterprise scale, ensuring data assets are discoverable, addressable, trustworthy, and securely accessible to internal consumers.
• AI Readiness & Data Product Enablement: Drive the large Central Data Engineering organization to fundamentally improve Ford’s AI data readiness. Collaborate closely with AI/ML teams, data scientists, and business leaders to understand critical AI requirements and ensure our data models are optimized to accelerate AI adoption and unlock enterprise value. Oversee the creation of well-modeled, high-quality data products that serve as the foundation for advanced analytics and generative AI applications. Lead the development of libraries and tools that enable standard patterns (e.g., bespoke libraries, common user-defined functions) to be used across all Data Engineering teams organization-wide.
• Organizational Leadership & Talent Development: Attract, retain, develop, and promote top-tier technical talent, building a world-class engineering organization known for its expertise and innovation. Lead, mentor, and inspire Directors and Managers of data engineering, fostering a culture of technical excellence, and continuous improvement. Manage resource allocation and capacity planning for the Central Data Engineering team, balancing the delivery of broad/common datasets with ad-hoc enterprise requests. Create strategic roadmaps to foster a strong data-driven culture across Ford Motor Company, GDI&A, and partner organizations.
• Technical Excellence & Standards: Hold the organization to the highest technical standards for code quality, operational stability, architecture, design, and execution. Enforce best practices across the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), ensuring sound architecture, rigorous testing, CI/CD implementation, and documentation standards. Lead the design and optimization of scalable, high-performance data pipelines (ETL/ELT) on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), utilizing services such as BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Dataflow, Dataproc, and Composer. Lead our Data Architecture organization to ensure the implementation of robust data models and with Privacy/Compliance teams to ensure all data practices meet stringent industry and regulatory requirements.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up childcare 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: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees