Hybrid Plant Vehicle Team Quality Manager

at Ford Motor Company

• Job title: Plant Vehicle Team Quality Manager
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Senior, Lead
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: No Education Requirement
• Tech skills: Assembly
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Dearborn, United States

Responsibilities

• PVT Governance & Development: Govern the roles, responsibilities, and professional development of VHE IPTSE Plant Vehicle Teams (PVTs), holding authority on external requests to ensure alignment with quality objectives.
• Technical Leadership & Coaching: Leverage functional acumen and extensive cross-vehicle knowledge to drive systemic root cause identification and prevent recurrence of quality issues. Provide hands-on technical coaching to PVTs, including conducting rotating on-site Gembas, to cultivate stronger problem-solving capabilities across the organization.
• Cross-Functional Integration: Serve as a direct, agile, and accessible link to Product Development (PD), guiding containment actions and defining next steps for critical quality issues. Maintain close ties with functional teams, ensuring that prioritization of quality initiatives is heavily influenced by functional needs and strategic objectives.
• Quality Spike Mitigation: Lead efforts to fix issues directly at the point of fit, proactively mitigating quality spikes and ensuring robust solutions are implemented swiftly and effectively.
• Talent Strategy & Team Building: Develop and implement a comprehensive talent strategy focused on training and development to enhance prevention and problem-solving capabilities within the quality organization. Actively contribute to building and fostering a high-performing team, including identifying and nurturing developmental opportunities through rotations.
• Strategic Partnership: Collaborate closely with Functional Director, providing input on critical talent selections (e.g., LL6 roles) and acting as a key partner to their organizations. Potentially manage and integrate headcount from functional teams to optimize quality initiatives.
• Travel: This person's teams will be located at the vehicle assembly plants. Travel will be required approximately 50%.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in engineering
• 8+ years of experience in quality, product development & manufacturing
• Strong technical acumen and comprehensive cross-vehicle knowledge
• Demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, and develop problem-solving skills in others
• Proven experience in systemic root cause identification and recurrence prevention methodologies
• Exceptional collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to influence and work effectively across diverse functional teams (e.g., Product Development, Manufacturing, Design, Supplier Technical Assistance)
• Experience in leading quality improvement initiatives and managing quality performance metrics
• Even better, you may have...
• Master's degree in Engineering
• 8+ years of experience in engineering & manufacturing
• Familiarity with Ford's product development and quality processes
• Experience with Gembas and lean manufacturing principles

Benefits

• 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
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.