Release Train Engineer, Systems and Core Architecture

Ford Motor Company

Release Train Engineer managing the SCA Agile Release Train for Ford's Software Defined Vehicle transformation. Overseeing delivery health and team leadership across critical technical domains.

Posted 5/12/2026full-timeDearborn • Missouri • 🇺🇸 United StatesSeniorLead💰 $132,800 - $250,800 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Azure

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead and Develop a Small Team of Engineering Project Managers
Directly manage a team of Engineering Project Managers supporting critical SCA domains including diagnostics, in-vehicle networking, power controls, and cross-domain architecture delivery.
Provide coaching, feedback, and career development support to help EPMs grow their technical program management capabilities and cross-functional influence.
Set clear expectations for delivery quality, stakeholder communication, and program health across each EPM's portfolio.
Model and reinforce strong program management practices — including planning rigor, dependency management, risk identification, and leadership communication — across the team.
Build a strong team culture rooted in accountability, continuous improvement, collaboration, and trust.
Partner with SCA leadership on staffing, role scoping, and organizational design as the team evolves.
Own the SCA Agile Release Train
Own the operating model and delivery health of the SCA Agile Release Train, aligning to SAFe principles and Ford's evolving SDV execution framework.
Facilitate PI Planning events across the SCA ART, helping teams define program increments, identify dependencies, surface risks, and commit to realistic, coordinated execution plans.
Lead ART-level ceremonies including System Demos, Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshops, ART Syncs, and Scrum-of-Scrums, ensuring these events drive real alignment and decision-making rather than status reporting.
Track and communicate ART-level metrics including Program Predictability Measure (PPM), feature flow, PI objectives completion, and risk burn-down.
Serve as the primary escalation path for cross-team impediments and systemic risks that the team cannot resolve independently.
Coach teams on SAFe practices, agile delivery principles, and continuous improvement — adapting approaches as Ford's SDV operating model matures.
Partner with the LACE (Lean-Agile Center of Excellence) and other RTEs across Ford's broader ART ecosystem to maintain alignment, share practices, and contribute to enterprise agile maturity.
Drive ART-Level Delivery and Architecture Execution
Translate SCA strategy into coordinated, multi-team delivery plans across hardware, embedded software, platform software, validation, and supplier workstreams.
Maintain visibility into ART-level dependencies, program risks, scope changes, and milestone commitments across all domains.
Connect the SCA ART to adjacent trains, Tech Platform teams, and Tech Strategy teams to ensure cross-ART alignment on shared architecture, platform cadence, and long-term SDV roadmap execution.
Support delivery from architecture definition and system design through implementation, validation, launch, OTA evolution, and lifecycle support.
Ensure that near-term FNV3.x delivery and next-generation architecture planning remain coordinated and mutually informed across the ART.
Manage Risk, Scope, and Systemic Impediments at Scale
Identify systemic risks and cross-team impediments early, develop mitigation strategies, and escalate to SCA and program leadership when needed to protect timing, quality, and business outcomes.
Establish clear risk management practices across the team, ensuring consistency in how risks are identified, tracked, communicated, and resolved.
Maintain an ART-level program risk register with clear ownership, mitigation plans, and escalation criteria.
Manage the impact of scope changes at the ART level, assessing effects on PI commitments, engineering capacity, validation readiness, and release plans.
Use Data to Drive Decisions and Transparency
Define and maintain ART-level delivery metrics, KPIs, and program health indicators that surface execution trends, dependency health, and quality signals.
Build and maintain dashboards and review mechanisms that give SCA leadership, stakeholders, and partners real-time visibility into ART performance.
Coach the EPM team on how to define, track, and communicate metrics effectively within their own domains.
Communicate ART-level progress, risks, tradeoffs, and delivery health clearly and concisely to SCA and program leadership.
Improve the SCA Operating Model
Lead Inspect and Adapt workshops and retrospectives at the ART level, ensuring insights translate into concrete process improvements.
Contribute to the evolution of Ford's SCA delivery model as the organization advances its SDV execution maturity.
Help define scalable delivery practices that can be adopted across the broader SCA organization and Ford's ART ecosystem.
Serve as a thought leader and change agent on how Ford executes foundational architecture work in the SDV era.
Inclusively: You bring the right people together — both on your team and across the ART — ensure diverse perspectives are heard, and build alignment that reflects the full range of engineering, product, validation, strategy, and supplier voices.
Decisively: You create clarity in ambiguous situations, drive decisions forward at the ART level, and help your team do the same within their domains.
As a Coach and Developer: You invest in your people, provide honest and timely feedback, and actively create conditions where your team can grow, stretch, and succeed.
Thoughtfully: You balance urgency with quality, short-term delivery with long-term architecture goals, and individual team needs with ART-level accountability.
Collaboratively: You build strong partnerships across engineering, product, validation, strategy, platform, and supplier teams — and model the cross-functional trust you expect your team to build as well.
With Ownership: You take accountability for ART outcomes and team performance, and you help your train solve problems before they become blockers.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field
8+ years of experience leading complex technical program or product delivery across hardware, software, and/or services
3+ years of people leadership experience, with demonstrated ability to coach, develop, and retain technical program management talent
3+ years of experience as a Release Train Engineer or equivalent role in a SAFe or scaled agile environment
Strong working knowledge of SAFe principles and practices, including PI Planning, ART ceremonies, program metrics, and Inspect and Adapt
Experience driving execution across multiple cross-functional teams through the full product lifecycle, including validation, launch, and post-launch support
Experience managing ART-level schedules, dependencies, risks, scope, and stakeholder communications in a fast-paced development environment
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to tailor messaging from engineering teams to executive leadership audiences
Demonstrated ability to build alignment and drive decisions across large, matrixed organizations.
Even better, you may have...
SAFe RTE certification (SA, RTE, or SPC) or equivalent demonstrated experience
Experience with automotive systems, embedded systems, or Software Defined Vehicle platforms
Experience with vehicle networking, diagnostics, electrical architecture, or platform software
Experience working across both hardware and software organizations in a systems-responsible environment
Experience coordinating with supplier partners as part of large-scale technical program execution
Experience supporting programs from architecture definition through validation, launch, OTA updates, and lifecycle support
Familiarity with tools such as JIRA, Azure DevOps, and PI Planning facilitation platforms
Experience operating in a multi-ART environment and partnering with a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE)
Experience leading through organizational change or operating model transformation in a technology-driven environment.

Benefits

Comp & perks

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.

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

program managementtechnical program managementSAFe principlesPI Planningrisk managementdependency managementprogram metricsproduct lifecyclevalidationarchitecture definition

Soft Skills

coachingleadershipcommunicationcollaborationdecision-makingaccountabilitycontinuous improvementteam buildingproblem-solvingadaptability

Certifications

SAFe RTE certificationSA certificationSPC certification