Principal Software Engineer

We are the movers of the world and the makers of the future. We get up every day, roll up our sleeves and build a better world together. At Ford, we're all a part of something bigger than ourselves. Are you ready to change the way the world moves?

Enterprise Technology plays a critical part in shaping the future of mobility. If you're looking for the chance to leverage advanced technology to redefine the transportation landscape, enhance customer experience and improve people's lives, this is the opportunity for you. Join us and challenge your IT expertise and analytical skills to help create vehicles that are as smart as you are.

Join us at the forefront of Ford's digital transformation. The Industrial System Analytics team is solving some of the company's most challenging problems across Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality and Product Development, delivering AI / ML-driven applications and insights. This is your opportunity to architect the future, mentor the present, and code the backbone of Ford's Industrial System.

In this position...

As a Principal Software Engineer within the Global Industrial System Analytics organization, you will be a hands-on technical leader delivering working software. You will be responsible for design, development, and optimization of complex solutions for the Industrial System. You will solve complex, large-scale software engineering problems and build highly available, performant, and cost-effective solutions that power Ford's transformation of the Industrial System into a data-first, Analytics and AI-enabled organization.

While not a people management role, you will actively contribute to hiring, onboarding, and mentoring top-tier engineering talent and act as a technical bar-raiser across the organization. This is an opportunity to leave your technical mark on a large team, influence team direction without management overhead, and help shape a high-performance engineering culture focused on secure, scalable, reliable and efficient software.

Although this is listed as a remote position, we have a strong preference for a candidate who is available to work onsite in our Dearborn, MI office four days / week. Relocation assistance may be available for qualified candidates.

What you'll do...

Technical Execution & Hands-On Delivery

Lead the design and development of critical ISA platform features, complex application implementation, and write and drive reusable components across ISA

Write production-grade code, perform system integration, and contribute directly to codebases to unblock teams and raise the engineering bar

Drive performance tuning, reliability engineering, and capacity planning

Engineering Leadership & Mentorship

Lead by example in the areas of CI / CD, DevSecOps, infrastructure as code, and automated testing

Mentor engineers through code reviews, design sessions, and informal technical leadership

Innovation & Proof-of-Concepts

Lead experimentation and prototyping efforts for emerging technologies and new capabilities and efficiencies (example - appropriate use of LLM for code generation)

Translate non-functional requirements (e.g., security, scalability, compatibility, reliability) into actionable solutions

Validate new technologies and patterns for scalability and performance prior to adoption with reference implementation

Industrial System Architecture & Engineering

Design and develop core ISA platform components across the Industrial system, supporting integration with the enterprise data platform and IT source systems

Leverage GCP-native services (Cloud Run, Cloud Build, Pub / Sub, IAM, Secret Manager, etc.) to enhance security and automation

Design and promote modular code structures, service boundaries, test-driven development and decoupled architecture patterns

Establish and maintain high standards for operations excellence across applications, driving the right technologies for the right service level agreements

Ensure application architecture is aligned with Enterprise architecture

Technical Debt Management & Platform Maturity

Identify and address technical debt aligned with Enterprise and GDIA technology transitions, balancing delivery with application health and maintainability

Prioritize and drive modernization efforts that unlock developer productivity and efficiency

Cross-Functional Collagboration

Work closely with architects (e.g. Enterprise architects, Data platform architects), data platform principal engineers, AI Platform engineers, product managers, data scientists, security teams, and business stakeholders to ensure alignment with organizational goals

Translate complex technical concepts into actionable, well-communicated engineering plans

You'll have...

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.

8+ years of experience in software engineering or data platform development, including deep hands-on experience building and operating large-scale systems.Other skills to include :

Expertise in one or more programming languages, Python and Java preferred, on large scale platforms

Knowledge of DevSecOps Tools : GitHub Actions, GCP Cloud Build or Tekton, Terraform, SonarQube, etc.

Experience with Cloud Architecture (preferably GCP) : Modular Microservices, REST APIs and Serverless platforms like Cloud Run and Cloud Functions

5+ years of experience mentoring engineers and leading cross-team technical initiatives

Even better, you may have...

Master's Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering or related field

GCP Professional Certifications (e.g. Professional Cloud Developer, Cloud Architect)

Thought leadership through open-source contributions, blogs, or conference talks

Deep expertise in multiple programming languages and full-stack development

You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!

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 builder...or all the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including :

Immediate medical, dental, and prescription drug coverage

Flexible family care, parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up childcare 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.

For more information on salary and benefits, click here :

This position is leadership level 5.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

This position is hybrid (onsite four days per week) for candidates who are in commuting distance to a Ford hub location or remote for non-local candidates.

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Requisition ID : 53010