Director, Health Care Benefits

Director, Health Care Benefits

As part of our Human Resources team, you'll help us attract, hire and retain the top talent we need to achieve our bold vision. You'll play a vital role in defining, developing and maintaining the winning culture that empowers diverse individuals to work together and create the impossible. We're seeking change leaders, talent strategists, employee advocates and culture architects to enable our teams, partners, and businesses to do and be their best.

In this position...

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Director, Health Care Benefits to lead the design, evolution, and administration of Ford's health care benefits programs. This leader will be responsible for setting the future direction for our health care benefits, ensuring they are comprehensive, competitive, cost-effective, and aligned with Ford's overall business objectives and employee needs.

This leader will shape Ford's benefits strategy and lead a team committed to operational excellence, delivering seamless administration, full compliance, and outstanding employee experience. The ideal candidate will possess a deep understanding of the evolving health care landscape, a proven track record in strategic benefits planning, the ability to deliver operational excellence through strong team leadership, and exceptional skills in cross-functional collaboration and labor relations. An important component of this role involves leading health care benefit negotiations with our union partners, proposing solutions that meet the needs of both the company and our union-represented employees.

This role is hybrid and requires at least 4 days onsite in the Dearborn, MI office.

Responsibilities

What you'll do...

Strategic Vision & Benefits Innovation:

• Establish Ford's multi-year health care benefits vision and strategic roadmap, aligning with enterprise business objectives and long-term talent strategy.
• Oversee competitive benchmarking, market intelligence, and assessment of emerging health care trends, disruptive technologies, and industry innovations to position Ford as a benefits leader and employer of choice.
• Analyze workforce demographics, health data, and utilization patterns to design benefit strategies that optimize health outcomes, employee experience, cost management, and competitive positioning.
• Develop business cases and financial models for senior leadership on benefit investments, plan redesign, and transformational initiatives.
• Partner with Supply Chain, Finance, Legal, HR, IT, and Labor Relations to align health care strategy with corporate financial planning, risk management, and total rewards philosophy.

Labor Strategy & Collective Bargaining Leadership:

• Serve as the lead strategist and senior negotiator for health care benefits in collective bargaining, shaping proposals that balance business sustainability with union partnership and employee value.
• Develop detailed bargaining strategies, scenario modeling, and long-term cost projections to inform executive decision-making and negotiation positioning.
• Build strategic relationships with union leadership to foster collaboration, mutual understanding, and creative problem-solving for complex health care challenges.
• Translate negotiated agreements into actionable implementation roadmaps, then lead team to implement.

Vendor Strategy & Ecosystem Partnerships:

• Define vendor strategy and lead the selection of strategic partners (medical/dental/vision carriers, PBMs, and carve-out specialty vendors) that align with Ford's vision and deliver measurable value.
• Establish governance frameworks and collaborative partnerships with vendors to drive innovation, value-based care, outcomes measurement, and excellence in service delivery and cost outcomes.
• Negotiate enterprise-level contracts and service agreements that optimize financial terms, performance accountability, and strategic flexibility.

Operational Excellence & Plan Administration Leadership:

• Guide team to deliver consistently excellent health care plan administration, including medical, pharmacy, dental, and vision programs across union and non-union populations.
• Manage health care benefits budget, cost forecasting, and financial performance; partner with Finance and actuarial consultants to optimize funding approaches, model scenarios, and demonstrate value for investment.
• Champion continuous improvement in processes, systems, and service delivery while adhering to collective bargaining agreements, regulatory requirements, and internal policies.
• Oversee annual enrollment strategy and execution with clear communication and high employee engagement.

Health Care Plan Design & Governance:

• Guide the evolution of plan design to balance value, choice, affordability, and fiscal responsibility.
• Establish governance structures, policies, and decision-making frameworks that ensure consistent, equitable, legally compliant benefit delivery and mitigate risks through proactive oversight.
• Ensure all plans comply with federal, state, and local regulations (ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, ERISA) and all applicable collective bargaining agreements.

Team Leadership, Talent Development & Change Management:

• Build and lead a high-performing benefits team, coaching members to elevate their capabilities, take ownership of outcomes, and deliver results that exceed standards.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability, continuous learning, and service quality.
• Manage organizational change for major benefits transformations, ensuring stakeholder alignment, effective communication, and successful adoption across the enterprise.
• Serve as a thought leader and trusted advisor to senior HR leadership, business unit leaders, and cross-functional partners on health care strategy and industry trends; represent Ford externally through participation in industry forums, coalitions, roundtables, and advisory boards.

Qualifications

You'll have...

• Bachelor's degree preferably in Human Resources, Business Administration, Health Care Administration, or a related field (Master's preferred).
• Minimum of 10-15 years of progressive experience in employee benefits, with at least 7-10 years focused specifically on health care benefits strategy, design, and administration in a large, complex organization (Fortune 500 or comparable experience strongly preferred).

Even better, you may have...

• Demonstrated experience leading or significantly contributing to health care benefit negotiations within a unionized environment; experience with major industrial unions (e.g., UAW) is highly desirable.
• Extensive experience with vendor selection, contract negotiation, and performance management in the health care benefits space.
• Proven ability to balance strategic vision with operational executioncandidates must be comfortable setting strategy AND ensuring their team delivers flawless execution.
• Strong track record of building and leading teams to achieve both strategic and operational excellence.
• In-depth knowledge of federal and state benefits legislation (e.g., ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, ERISA) and compliance requirements.
• Strong analytical and financial management skills with the ability to interpret complex data, perform scenario modeling, and make data-driven recommendations.
• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate effectively with all levels of the organization, including senior leadership and union leadership.
• Proven leadership, coaching, and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and lead cross-functional initiatives in a fast-paced environment.
• Professional certification such as CEBS (Certified Employee Benefit Specialist) or similar.
• Experience with self-insured health plans, actuarial valuation processes, and claims analytics.
• Experience in the automotive, manufacturing, or other heavily unionized industries.

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builderor all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:

• 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