Director of Engineering - Software Delivery and Technical Strategy

Ford Pro Technology – Director of Engineering

Ford Pro Technology – Director of Engineering 

Ford Pro is a new global business within Ford committed to commercial customer productivity. Ford Pro delivers a work-ready suite of vehicles, products, and services for virtually every vocation, backed by technology and connected data. 

Ford Pro Technology is the software engine driving this transformation. We are building the cloud-native software applications and platforms that enable an "always-on" customer experience for the professional customer. We are moving fast, embracing modern engineering practices, and shifting our culture to focus on outcomes over output. 

In this position... We are seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the technical strategy, development, and delivery execution for our commercial software products. As the leader of the "How" and the "When" of software delivery you will partner with Product Management (who define the "What") to form a leadership responsible for value creation. You will be responsible for balancing the demand for new features with the necessity of technical excellence, ensuring we deliver high-quality, scalable software on a predictable cadence. 

Crucially, this role serves as a bridge builder and strategic architect for our global organization. You will be directly responsible for growing, maturing, and integrating our engineering center in Chennai, India, ensuring it operates not just as a delivery arm, but as a center of excellence with full ownership of critical platforms. 

What you'll do... As Director of Engineering, you will lead a large organization of Engineering Managers and Software Engineers. You will serve as the single point of accountability for the delivery of your portfolio, moving beyond "task completion" to true ownership of the software lifecycle. 

Delivery & Execution Ownership 

• Own the Schedule: Take full responsibility for the coordination of delivery for a software product group of roughly 10-15 teams of 75-100 persons. You will work with your Engineering Managers to generate accurate estimates, manage dependencies, and drive the release schedule. 

• Engineering-Led Delivery: Engineering-led execution; you will ensure your teams are running efficient Agile processes where the people building the software are the ones managing the timeline. 

• Predictability & Transparency: Establish clear metrics (DORA metrics, velocity, burndowns) to provide transparency to stakeholders regarding progress, risks, and launch readiness. 

Global Leadership & Chennai Strategy 

• Mature the Chennai Hub: Drive the strategic evolution of the Chennai engineering organization.  

• One Team Culture: Foster a unified engineering culture. You will ensure that Chennai teams have the same autonomy, context, and career growth opportunities as their US counterparts. 

• Global Talent Pipeline: Lead the hiring and leadership development strategy in India, identifying and mentoring high-potential Engineering Managers in Chennai who can take on global delivery ownership. 

 

Technical Strategy & Excellence 

• Cloud-Native Architecture: Drive the architectural vision for a scalable, secure, and resilient platform. Ensure the team is utilizing modern patterns (microservices, event-driven architecture) appropriate for a global commercial scale. 

• Technical Health: Act as the guardian of code quality and quality of service. You will work with Product Management to ensure roadmap space is dedicated to refactoring, reducing technical debt, and platform modernization. 

• Operational Excellence: Apply Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles to ensure high availability and low latency. You own the software not just when it ships, but when it is running in production. 

Leadership & Culture 

• The Partnership: Collaborate intimately with your Director-level counterpart in Product Management. You will work together to ensure excellent technical designs that achieve value quicker. 

• Talent Development: Build a world-class engineering culture. You will hire, mentor, and grow Engineering Managers and Staff Engineers, fostering an environment of psychological safety and technical curiosity. 

You'll have... 

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related technical field. 

• 10+ years of software engineering and delivery experience, with a deep background in modern cloud development (GCP/AWS/Azure). 

• 5+ years of leadership experience, with at least 2 years managing "managers" (Directors or Senior Managers). 

• Demonstrated experience managing large, distributed engineering teams, specifically with a significant footprint in India. 

• Proven ability to bridge time zones and cultures, ensuring seamless collaboration between US and India-based teams. 

• Deep understanding of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) using agile execution principles and modern CI/CD pipelines. 

• Experience managing complex dependencies across a matrixed organization without relying on external project managers to drive progress. 

Even better, you may have... 

• Master’s degree or MBA. 

• Deep expertise in Domain Driven Design (DDD), specifically in defining bounded contexts to align technical architecture with business value streams. 

• Experience scaling an India-based engineering center while maintaining high quality and retention. 

• Background in Commercial/B2B software, Fleet Management, or Telematics. 

• A "Builder" mindset: You are still comfortable reading an architecture diagram or sitting in on a code review when necessary. 

Experience Level

Executive Level