Vehicle Integration Engineer

Ford • Dearborn, MI

1d • $65,100 - $166,200 • Hybrid

About The Position

As the Lead Vehicle Integration Programs within Ford Racing, you will be responsible for the end-to-end engineering execution of high-performance vehicle programs. You will manage cross-functional teams to ensure all test vehicles are "Fit for Test," manage complex track and off-road durability events, and cascade high-level customer "wow" moments into objective technical requirements. Your goal is to deliver emotionally delightful products on schedule, ensuring that every hardware and software iteration meets Ford’s rigorous performance and quality standards.

What you'll do...
To lead the end-to-end vehicle development, testing, and validation of future Ford Racing products, ensuring technical excellence and an emotive customer experience.
Program Leadership: Lead Design Confirmation Vehicle (DCV) development and launch activities for Ford Racing programs, ensuring all engineering gateways and milestones are met with high quality and efficiency.
Translate customer insights into balanced vehicle-level requirements. Cascade these into objective system-level targets, managing technical tradeoffs across cross-functional teams (Marketing, Studio, Hardware/Software) to preserve "emotional delight" features.
Oversee the lifecycle of test vehicles, including hardware/software maturity tracking and "Fit for Test" certification. Streamline testing processes by optimizing FEDE accuracy and condensing test plans to improve Design Validation (DV) efficiency.
Direct all aspects of Track and Off-Road Durability testing, including resource planning, logistics, and safety. Ensure events are financially responsible and provide a positive, productive environment for all participants.
Lead the final validation of vehicle emotive experiences. Manage the assessment and preparation of Media vehicles to ensure flawless execution and high-quality external representation.
Serve as a "Go-To" resource for the Vehicle Engineering (VE) team and non-Ford Performance partners, removing administrative burdens from development engineers to allow them to focus on technical execution.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or an equivalent engineering degree.
• 3 - 5+ years of experience in Vehicle Engineering, Product Development, or a related automotive engineering role.
• Ability to perform place-dependent work primarily at the Roush 57 facility nearly every weekday.
• Proven ability to lead and facilitate cross-functional teams in solving complex technical issues with efficiency while building strong professional relationships.
• Experience in vehicle testing and validation, including the ability to assess "Fit for Test" status for hardware and software.
• Experience managing engineering milestones, gateways, and program documentation within a formal product development system (e.g., GPDS).
• Strong verbal and written communication skills to translate complex technical tradeoffs into customer-focused insights for executive and multi-departmental audiences.

Nice To Haves

• Experience: 5+ years of Vehicle-Level Automotive Product Development experience across a wide range of attributes.
• Proven track record of delivering complete automotive product development cycles from initial concept through to launch.
• Experience with modern software development processes, Over-The-Air (OTA) updates, and feature delivery alongside traditional mechanical systems.
• A clear, practical understanding of Performance Vehicle customers, their passions, pain points, needs, and priorities, backed by an understanding of customer insight tools.
• Personal affirmation as an "early tech adopter" with outstanding self-motivation and initiative.

Responsibilities

• Lead Design Confirmation Vehicle (DCV) development and launch activities for Ford Racing programs, ensuring all engineering gateways and milestones are met with high quality and efficiency.
• Translate customer insights into balanced vehicle-level requirements. Cascade these into objective system-level targets, managing technical tradeoffs across cross-functional teams (Marketing, Studio, Hardware/Software) to preserve "emotional delight" features.
• Oversee the lifecycle of test vehicles, including hardware/software maturity tracking and "Fit for Test" certification. Streamline testing processes by optimizing FEDE accuracy and condensing test plans to improve Design Validation (DV) efficiency.
• Direct all aspects of Track and Off-Road Durability testing, including resource planning, logistics, and safety. Ensure events are financially responsible and provide a positive, productive environment for all participants.
• Lead the final validation of vehicle emotive experiences. Manage the assessment and preparation of Media vehicles to ensure flawless execution and high-quality external representation.
• Serve as a "Go-To" resource for the Vehicle Engineering (VE) team and non-Ford Performance partners, removing administrative burdens from development engineers to allow them to focus on technical execution.

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: Mid Level