Senior Technical Program Manager

Ford Motor • Dearborn, MI

6d • Hybrid

About The Position

We made history and now we work to transform the future – for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters. Do you believe data tells the real story? We do! Redefining mobility requires quality data, metrics and analytics, as well as insightful interpreters and analysts. That's where Global Data Insight & Analytics makes an impact. We advise leadership on business conditions, customer needs and the competitive landscape. With our support, key decision makers can act in meaningful, positive ways. Join us and use your data expertise and analytical skills to drive evidence-based, timely decision making. In this position... The Industrial System Analytics (ISA) team within Global Data Insight & Analytics (GDIA) is looking for a Senior Technical Program Manager for the Digital Birth Certificate (DBC) Program. DBC connects plant process data, station information, repair data, and images to VINs. Quality problem solvers leverage the DBC Assistant for their day-to-day work. As the first AI Agent in Quality.AI, it is designed to guide users through data analysis and accelerate the overall problem-solving process. The Senior Technical Program Manager (TPgM) is an expert technical leader responsible for the successful execution of complex, high-impact technical programs and cross-functional, dependent products. Operating with a high degree of autonomy, this role bridges the gap between business strategy, product management, and engineering execution. The Senior TPM possesses a deep architectural understanding of the entire project ecosystem, its integration points, and future scalability needs. They are responsible for strategically aligning senior leadership, driving continuous operational model improvements, translating product strategy into detailed technical requirements, and mitigating complex technical and platform-level risks. Based in Dearborn, MI, this is a hybrid position with a required four-day onsite presence each week.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Computer Science, Information Systems, Systems Programming or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience
• 7+ years of experience leading complex, high-impact, and highly technical programs with significant strategic implications.
• 3+ years as a Technical Product/Program Manager with skills including: Proven ability to operate autonomously with very little guidance, solving complex, ambiguous technical problems from beginning to end.
• Strong track record of influencing multiple teams, product lines, and leadership decisions across an organization regarding strategic planning, capacity management, and process adherence.
• Strong architectural understanding of software development lifecycles (SDLC), data science lifecycles, cloud platforms, integration points, and enterprise scalability.
• 3+ years of expert-level proficiency in program management methodologies (Agile, Kanban, Scaled Agile, Waterfall) and advanced Jira configuration, automation, and reporting.

Nice To Haves

• Master’ Degree in Computer Science, Engineering Information Technology or similar technical field.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with a proven ability to bridge communication between senior business leaders and deep technical architects/engineers.

Responsibilities

• Deep-dive into complex technical issues to understand root causes, evaluate trade-offs, and propose strategic, scalable solutions.
• Maintain a robust, end-to-end architectural understanding of the project ecosystem, integration points, and future scalability needs.
• Analyze project and engineering plans for potential impacts on other products, systems, or the broader platform, proposing adjustments to mitigate negative cross-program consequences.
• Quickly develop technical depth in unfamiliar or emerging technologies to understand proposed solutions and highlight technical risks or concerns.
• Identify technical dependencies or solution misalignments across multiple products and bring them to the surface for rapid resolution.
• Lead and manage complex, high-impact programs of a highly technical nature, consistently ensuring on-time, high-quality, and within-budget launches.
• Anticipate less-common technical and business risks that engineering teams encounter; proactively design and implement robust mitigation and escalation paths.
• Design and implement sophisticated capacity management models and resource allocation strategies to optimize team capacity and protect technical teams from distractions.
• Champion agile execution and data integrity. Establish and enforce standards for Jira usage, backlog grooming, and dependency management. Lead and facilitate complex backlog grooming sessions for Epics, ensuring strong alignment to MVP and point values.
• Work closely with Product Managers to translate high-level product strategy into detailed requirements and establish a shared technical understanding of project goals across engineering teams.
• Establish and nurture strong, trusted relationships with product, engineering, and business leaders. Act as a key strategic partner to Engineering Supervisors and Product Managers to drive product execution.
• Lead and facilitate complex collaboration across diverse, senior-level stakeholders (e.g., Directors, VPs, and external vendors) on complex technical projects.
• Explain highly complex technical topics clearly and concisely to senior leaders, representing projects from both a technical solutioning and business outcomes perspective.
• Author comprehensive, highly technical, and business-centric project documentation (including roadmaps, logical/physical architecture diagrams, and dependency maps) in coordination with Engineering.
• Ensure robust change control documentation, audit trails, and historical context are maintained for long-running programs and platforms.
• Establish and enforce standards for data integrity in relevant tools (e.g., Jira), ensuring that the system of record is a direct, reliable reflection of actual engineering work.
• Design and implement innovative project management strategies, frameworks, and governance models to optimize flow and predictability.
• Mentor and coach other TPMs and junior PgMs, providing strategic and technical guidance to contribute to their professional development and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Stay current with industry trends in project management, agile methodologies, and the evolving GDIA technical landscape to drive modern, data-driven decision-making.

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: Senior