Principal Architect, Industrial Systems

About the role

The Principal Industrial Systems Architect at Ford Motor Company leads a team of architects in building and managing systems across the industrial platform. This role involves aligning the design and implementation of industrial technologies with the company's technical strategy and current industry trends, ensuring reliability, performance, and adaptability to evolving business needs.

Responsibilities

• Drive cross-platform efforts to align industrial technologies with the company’s technical strategy and industry trends.
• Ensure all industrial systems are reliable, performant, and tailored to meet evolving business needs.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners to gather requirements and ensure the platform meets the needs of all stakeholders.
• Interface with teams working on advanced manufacturing and emerging technologies to integrate these innovations into the long-term roadmap.
• Exercise expert judgment to determine when to utilize existing technologies and when to pioneer new paths.
• Define and integrate strategic roadmaps for both tool selection and broader systems architecture.
• Support the development and evolution of the Industrial System’s future state vision and roadmap.
• Consult on emerging technology and business process modernization opportunities.
• Ensure delivery of architecture artifacts in line with commitments and timelines.
• Develop and execute an accelerated portfolio rationalization plan.
• Support cross-functional integration and alignment for end-to-end optimization across the Industrial value stream.
• Build strong partnerships with and operate as an integral part of the Industrial Systems leadership team.
• Advise on prioritizing updates to existing systems to meet the desired new architecture.
• Stay informed about new companies and technologies that should be part of the strategy.
• Ensure solutions are fully aligned with the Ford technology strategy.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field.
• 15+ years of progressive responsibilities in IT or an IT-focused business area.
• 5+ years of experience in a field related to manufacturing or industrial systems.
• Working knowledge of cloud computing, especially Google Cloud Platform.
• Experienced in business and solutions architecture, including selection of tools and platforms.
• Strong outside-in perspective on the evolution of processes and technologies across Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Quality domains.
• Knowledge and familiarity with strategic technology platforms, including the Dassault Systems 3DExperience suite, Siemens Team Center, SAP/S4 MRP, Jira/JSM, and data-centric architecture.
• Experience in IT/OT integration and edge-to-cloud infrastructure optimization.
• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field.
• Extensive demonstrated competency in Enterprise Architecture.
• Experience working in areas related to the Industrial System such as manufacturing, supply chain, product development and engineering, transportation and logistics, and other related fields.
• Understanding of how to apply Enterprise Architecture processes, tools, and viewpoints to a large, complex organization.
• Working knowledge of AI, including traditional and generative AI, and how to apply it to real-world applications.
• Working understanding of cybersecurity principles.
• Must be skilled at influencing leaders and workers across the company at many different levels.
• Ability to “lead by influence” as an architect, to be able to “push back” to ensure alignment with architecture principles, and to know when not to push back quite as hard.
• Strong communication and collaborative skills with people at all levels of the company.
• Proven ability to work closely with management one to four levels above and below both in the business and IT.

Benefits

As part of the Ford family, you'll enjoy excellent compensation, a comprehensive benefits package, and exciting opportunities for professional and personal growth and recognition. Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a permanent basis.