Software Product Engineer (SPE) - Digital Cabin Experience

About the role

The Software Product Engineer (SPE) is the feature delivery lead within the in-vehicle digital experience responsible for translating product and design intent into executable software backlogs in addition to driving SW delivery, middleware/services support, and vehicle integration. This role has broad organizational influence across Product Management, Digital Product Design, engineering scrum teams, and testing to ensure feature readiness, integration quality, and release outcomes. The SPE is accountable for cross-team alignment, dependency and risk management, and integrated validation from concept through launch. This leadership role drives predictable program execution, customer-ready feature quality, and on-time delivery to vehicle platforms.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end software delivery for a number of vehicle features sets within the digital cabin experience from concept through release sign-off.
• Translate PRDs, design artifacts, and system requirements into epics and sprint-ready user stories with clear acceptance criteria in Jira.
• Lead feasibility assessment, scope definition, and backlog readiness for PI planning; manage change/churn while protecting milestones.
• Drive cross-functional alignment with Product, Digital Product Design, Architecture, Engineering, and Test to ensure shared understanding of intent, priorities, and dependencies.
• Define and manage feature dependencies and blockers across HMI, services, platform, and validation.
• Validate end-to-end feature behavior on bench/vehicle through demos and product truth sessions; ensure implementation matches UX intent and functional expectations.
• Lead defect triage and prioritization for owned features; drive issues to closure through root-cause direction, retest strategy, and stakeholder communication.
• Maintain clear execution visibility via epic status summaries, risk registers/mitigation plans, and regular stakeholder updates.
• Ensure test coverage alignment by reviewing/confirming that test cases map to story acceptance criteria and key edge cases.

Requirements

• Strong understanding of Human-Machine Interface (HMI) principles and product lifecycle management within embedded and automotive environments, including user experience considerations, system constraints, and customer-facing feature delivery.
• 5+ years (or equivalent) delivering complex, cross functional software features, including embedded in vehicle application software that interfaces with downstream vehicle system layers, across automotive or adjacent domains, with demonstrated ownership spanning multiple teams and product releases.
• Proven ability to author high quality epics and user stories with clear scope, testable acceptance criteria, and dependency mapping; strong experience driving Agile execution including grooming, PI planning, and sprint delivery.
• Able to reason about end to end system behavior across HMI ↔ middleware/services ↔ vehicle signal access (via API abstraction), and to drive integration, validation, and issue resolution outcomes.
• Strong technical depth to effectively lead and partner with engineers; comfortable participating in architecture discussions, defining interface contracts, and applying failure mode and risk based thinking.
• Experience leading defect triage using logs and traces (e.g., ADB or developer logs; familiarity with CAN traces) and driving disciplined prioritization through resolution and closure.
• Proficiency with Jira and Confluence, including creating traceability to requirements and design artifacts and managing cross team dependencies.
• Strong cross functional leadership skills with the ability to drive decisions, align diverse stakeholders, and communicate risks and status clearly to both technical and non technical audiences.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience).

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience with digital cabin experiences, infotainment HMIs & applications, Android Automotive & QNX frameworks, and automotive middleware/service architectures.
• Familiarity with CAN-based feature behaviors and vehicle state modeling; exposure to tools such as CANalyzer/Wireshark (or similar).
• Background in driver-focused feature areas.
• Experience with test management tools and reviewing test coverage against acceptance criteria.
• Knowledge of automotive program cadence and release gating (launch milestones, OTA readiness, in-field defect handling).

Benefits

Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up childcare 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.

Pay

This position is a salary grade 7 to 8 and ranges from $84,480-162,120.

Schedule

This position is hybrid. Candidates who are in commuting distance to a Ford hub location may be required to be onsite four or more days per week.