Ford Motor Company

ADAS Strategy Director

Ford Motor Company

full-time

Posted on:

Location Type: Hybrid

Location: Dearborn • 🇺🇸 United States

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Job Level

Lead

Tech Stack

Distributed Systems

About the role

  • Own Ford’s global ADAS strategy
  • Work closely with subject-matter experts and executive leadership to synthesize industry trends, portfolio needs, and corporate objectives into a forward-looking ADAS strategy that keeps Ford at the leading edge.
  • Define future ADAS experiences and enabling technology
  • Partner with engineering, product, and digital teams to define and refine key future ADAS customer experiences.
  • Define the required compute platforms, sensing configurations, and software enablers to deliver those experiences.
  • Manage ADAS complexity across the portfolio
  • Establish and maintain a “menu” of ADAS system configurations with engineering.
  • Collaborate with technology platform and vehicle program teams to develop offering strategies for each vehicle program and region.
  • Evaluate complexity-driving requests through a cost–benefit lens and drive decisions to closure.
  • Manage the ADAS investment portfolio within the technology cycle plan
  • Ensure sufficient funding to achieve ADAS objectives, supported by accurate and traceable modeling of resource requirements.
  • Raise new cycle-plan funding requests and identify opportunities for spending reduction when needed.
  • Lead competitive intelligence, benchmarking, and external scanning for ADAS
  • Maintain a constantly refreshed, data-driven view of the ADAS industry, including competitive trends and threats, emerging technologies, and cost-reduction opportunities.
  • Leverage supplier engagements, industry consortiums, competitive tear-downs, public announcements, analyst research, and major tech/industry events to inform Ford’s ADAS strategy and roadmaps.
  • Translate external insights into clear recommendations on ADAS platforms, features, and investments.
  • Co-lead Technology Strategy organization initiatives
  • Co-lead technology unit papers and High Priority Studies alongside matched-pair partners in the Technology Strategy organization.
  • Ensure ADAS initiatives meet deliverable requirements and business case targets for uMR, uPS, and uPSC milestones.
  • Maintain ADAS technology and business health databases
  • Own and curate databases tracking ADAS technology proliferation, feature take-rates, and platform usage across the Ford portfolio.
  • Provide a clear source of truth on ADAS business health and deployment status.
  • Support the Unified Backlog process
  • Review ADAS-related new demand requests for business value and technical feasibility.
  • Work cross-functionally with product, engineering, and TPM to secure commitments for high-value initiatives.
  • Collaborate across the global enterprise
  • Partner with stakeholders across product development, digital product, technology platforms, integrated services, marketing, finance, vehicle programs, and regional teams.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, or a related field
  • 10+ years of leadership experience in the automotive technology space, delivering multiple complex initiatives in cross-functional environments
  • Experience translating technical initiatives into business and profitability analyses to ensure efficient capital allocation
  • Strong oral and written communication skills, with demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate in diverse, cross-functional environments
  • Proven team-leadership experience, including working directly with senior and executive leadership
  • Master’s degree in Engineering or an MBA (even better)
  • Direct experience with ADAS technologies, including sensing (radars, cameras, ultrasonics), ADAS-specialized compute, and motion-control interfaces (even better)
  • Direct experience leading strategic initiatives and technology unit and/or vehicle program milestones (even better)
  • Highly technical background and demonstrated experience in the domains of the ADAS features being developed (even better)
  • Experience with embedded vehicle architectures—ideally Ford’s FNVx architecture—including roadmaps, constraints, and integration for highly complex and distributed systems/features on- and off-board (even better)
  • Experience developing diagrams and visual frameworks to communicate complex concepts (even better)
  • Experience in product or technical program management for complex systems, or leading engineering feature delivery (even better)
  • Hyper-collaborative, team-centric leadership style that encourages and partners with teams and leaders at all levels to advance the integration of digital experiences (even better)
  • Strong executive presence and leadership skills—the ability to drive discussions, provide clear direction, and update senior leaders succinctly (even better)
  • Tenacity and comfort working in evolving states of ambiguity (even better).
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.

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard skills
ADAS technologiessensing (radars, cameras, ultrasonics)ADAS-specialized computemotion-control interfacesembedded vehicle architecturesFord’s FNVx architectureproduct managementtechnical program managementengineering feature deliverybusiness and profitability analyses
Soft skills
leadershipcommunicationcollaborationinfluenceteam leadershipexecutive presencetenacityadaptabilitycross-functional teamworkstrategic thinking
Certifications
Bachelor’s degree in EngineeringBachelor’s degree in BusinessMaster’s degree in EngineeringMBA