Ford Motor Company

Senior Hybrid Cloud Architect - (Data Center)

Ford Motor Company • $115K — $218K *
Dearborn, MI 48126Hybrid
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Expert experience in designing and operating large-scale datacenters, focusing on hardware and storage management.
  • Hands-on expertise in enterprise virtualization environments, either VMware or OpenShift.
  • Proficient in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and building CI/CD pipelines using tools like Terraform and Ansible.
  • Extensive management of both Windows and Linux systems, including Active Directory and kernel tuning.
  • Deep understanding of containerization with Red Hat OpenShift and Kubernetes at enterprise scale.
  • Demonstrated leadership in managing and mentoring teams of architects or senior engineers.
  • Familiarity with integrating modern cloud architectures with legacy Mainframes.

Responsibilities

  • Lead and mentor a team of Infrastructure and Solution Architects to build a high-performing architecture practice.
  • Establish an Architecture Center of Excellence and publish reusable architectural patterns for enterprise-wide adoption.
  • Research emerging technologies and author white papers that guide internal strategy and enhance industry presence.
  • Translate technical engineering concepts into compelling business strategies for executive audiences.
  • Develop and execute holistic datacenter strategies, including capacity planning and compute topologies.
  • Architect migration pathways from traditional VMware infrastructures to Kubernetes-native environments.
  • Design scalable cloud and AI infrastructure to support innovative applications.

Benefits

  • Hybrid work model requiring onsite presence four or more days per week.
Full Job Description
Job Description

We seek a highly motivated, technology-focused individual passionate about improving and simplifying Ford's highly complex global infrastructure environment across Cloud Platform, on-premises data centers, and distributed locations in all major regions. This role demands a proven people leader who will directly manage, mentor, and elevate a high-performing team of Domain and Solution Architects. You will be responsible for fostering a culture of engineering excellence, establishing architectural governance, and driving the strategic vision of your team. As a recognized thought leader, you will codify your team's innovations by publishing reusable architectural patterns and authoring authoritative white papers that influence both internal enterprise strategy and the broader technology community.

The ideal candidate is a rare hybrid: a strategic people leader capable of defining multi-year technology roadmaps, a thought leader who shapes enterprise standards, and an elite engineer who can still roll up their sleeves to write advanced Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and build robust CI/CD pipelines to automate infrastructure deployment. You possess a profound, expert-level understanding of traditional datacenter operations, heterogeneous OS management (Windows and Linux), and hypervisor ecosystems. You are also tasked with looking toward the future, guiding our cloud migration strategies and laying the infrastructural groundwork for Next-Generation AI and MLOps workloads. If you are a proactive problem-solver who requires minimal direction and is passionate about driving infrastructural convergence while leading top-tier talent, we want you on our team.

Responsibilities

People Management, Thought Leadership & Executive Communication
  • Team Leadership & People Management: Directly manage, mentor, and inspire a specialized team of Infrastructure, Cloud, and Solution Architects. Handle talent acquisition, career development, performance management, and resource allocation to build a high-performing, autonomous architecture practice.
  • Pattern Publishing & Architectural Governance: Establish and lead an Architecture Center of Excellence (CoE). Codify complex solutions by designing, documenting, and publishing reusable architectural patterns, reference architectures, and deployment blueprints to accelerate enterprise-wide adoption and ensure consistency.
  • Thought Leadership & White Papers: Act as the vanguard of technological innovation by researching emerging tech and authoring comprehensive white papers, strategy documents, and internal engineering blogs. Document paradigm-shifting strategies (e.g., VMware-to-OpenShift Virtualization migrations, AI Infrastructure readiness) to guide the broader enterprise and establish industry presence.
  • Executive Storytelling & Autonomous Consulting: Translate highly technical engineering concepts into compelling business strategies. Consult proactively with application, database, and security teams on cloud-native best practices and workload placement without waiting for top-down direction. Deliver architectural decision records (ADRs) to C-suite executives and review boards.

Datacenter, Virtualization & Hybrid Cloud Architecture
  • Advanced Datacenter Engineering & Hardware Lifecycle: Lead holistic datacenter strategy, encompassing rack-and-stack operations, capacity planning, power/cooling considerations, high-performance storage arrays (SAN/NAS/NVMe), and complex compute topologies (Blade architectures, HCI).
  • Enterprise Virtualization Transformation: Manage massive-scale legacy hypervisor environments (VMware vSphere, ESXi, vCenter). Architect and lead the strategic migration pathway from traditional VMware infrastructures to modern, Kubernetes-native OpenShift Virtualization (KubeVirt), consolidating VM and container control planes.
  • Mainframe Modernization & Integration: Design low-latency, high-throughput integration patterns between modern microservices and legacy Mainframe systems (e.g., IBM z/OS, DB2, CICS). Architect secure API enablement layers and event-driven architectures to unlock Mainframe data.
  • Cloud Architecture & Infrastructure Strategy: Architect resilient, highly scalable hybrid cloud ecosystems bridging on-premises datacenters, GCP, and other public clouds, ensuring optimal workload placement based on cost, compliance, and performance.

Hands-on Engineering, OS Administration & Automation
  • Advanced Infrastructure as Code (IaC) & Scripting: Maintain a hands-on technical edge by building and testing sophisticated automation frameworks to provision infrastructure. Utilize expert-level Terraform, Ansible (Playbooks, Automation Controller), PowerShell (for Windows automation), Python, and advanced Bash.
  • CI/CD Pipelines for IaC: Architect, build, and maintain robust Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines specifically for infrastructure lifecycle management. Integrate automated testing, security scanning (e.g., tfsec, Checkov), and policy-as-code validations into infrastructure pipelines using tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, or Tekton to ensure safe, repeatable deployments.
  • Heterogeneous OS Administration (Windows & Linux): Act as the highest escalation point for both Windows and Linux ecosystems. Manage deep Windows Server administration, Active Directory (AD) topologies, Group Policy Objects (GPOs), and WSUS/SCCM frameworks alongside advanced Linux (RHEL/RHCOS) kernel tuning and troubleshooting.
  • GitOps & Application Delivery: Architect and implement declarative, GitOps-driven application and infrastructure deployment methodologies utilizing tools such as ArgoCD, Flux, Helm, and Kustomize. Establish immutable infrastructure paradigms to prevent configuration drift.

Future-State Enablement: Cloud Migrations & AI Infrastructure
  • Large-Scale Cloud Migration Execution: Architect and govern complex "lift-and-shift" and "refactor-to-cloud" migration programs from legacy datacenters to public cloud providers (GCP, AWS, Azure) utilizing enterprise migration frameworks and methodologies.
  • AI/MLOps Infrastructure Readiness: Design scalable infrastructure to support Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning workloads. Provision and manage GPU-accelerated node pools (NVIDIA vGPUs), high-throughput AI storage, and integrated MLOps platforms (e.g., OpenShift AI, Kubeflow) to support data science teams.


Qualifications

Mandatory Skillsets
  1. Datacenter Operations & Architecture: Expert-level experience designing, building, and operating large-scale on-premises datacenters, including deep knowledge of server hardware lifecycle, complex storage fabrics, and bare-metal provisioning.
  2. Enterprise Virtualization (VMware / OpenShift): Deep, hands-on expertise managing extensive hypervisor environments. Must have strong experience with either VMware (vSphere, vCenter, vSAN, NSX) OR OpenShift Virtualization (KubeVirt), with the ability to lead transitions between the two.
  3. IaC & CI/CD Pipeline Automation: Hands-on ability to write, review, and deploy infrastructure scripts using Terraform, Ansible, Python, PowerShell, or Bash, and proven experience building automated CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins) to test, secure, and deploy that IaC code at scale.
  4. Heterogeneous OS & Systems Management: Extensive administrative experience across both Windows ecosystems (Windows Server, Active Directory, PowerShell automation) and Linux environments (RHEL, systemd, kernel tuning).
  5. Containerization & Kubernetes: Deep architectural understanding of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (4.x) and core Kubernetes primitives at an enterprise scale.
  6. People Leadership & Mentorship: Proven track record of managing, leading, and mentoring teams of Architects or Senior Engineers in an enterprise setting.
  7. Mainframe Familiarity: Strong conceptual and integration experience with legacy Mainframe environments, specifically understanding how to bridge traditional z/OS architectures with modern cloud-native systems.
Good-to-Have (Preferred) Skillsets
  1. Cloud Migration Experience (GCP / AWS / Azure): Demonstrated success in leading large-scale enterprise migrations from on-premises datacenters to hyper-scale public clouds using native migration tools and methodologies. GCP experience is highly preferred.
  2. AI Infrastructure & MLOps: Experience architecting infrastructure specifically for AI/ML workloads. Familiarity with GPU orchestration on Kubernetes, MLOps tooling (Kubeflow, MLflow, OpenShift AI), and managing large data streams for model training and inference.
  3. Advanced Networking & Security: Experience with Software-Defined Networking (SDN), hybrid cloud connectivity (GCP Cloud Interconnect, Direct Connect), and implementing Zero-Trust network security architectures.


This position is hybrid with a requirement to be onsite four or more days per week.

#LI-Hybrid

#LI-GR1

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company manufactures or distributes automobiles in addition to offering financial services. The company sells to dealerships for retail sales, and for sale to fleet customers, including commercial fleet customers, daily rental car companies, and governments. Ford’s vehicle portfolio includes automobiles, buses, tractors, and trucks. Retail financing includes retail installment sale contracts for new and used vehicles, and direct financing leases for new vehicles to retail customers, government entities, daily rental car companies, and fleet customers. Finance receivables in the non-consumer portfolio include products offered to automotive dealers. Ford’s environmental initiatives include compressed natural gas, flexible fuel vehicles, electric drive vehicles, Hydrogen, PC power management, and so on. Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford in 1903 and is headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan.

Ford Motor Company Careers

Join the dynamic team at Ford Motor Company, a global leader in automotive innovation and manufacturing. At Ford, we are committed to driving human progress by providing outstanding vehicles and mobility solutions. This is an exciting time to become part of our inclusive team, where job opportunities abound and growth is not just a possibility, but a promise.

Work You’ll Do

At Ford Motor Company, you will collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the industry. Our professionals are at the forefront of automotive technology, leading projects that redefine transportation and sustainability. With a culture rooted in continuous improvement and respect for all, Ford offers a workplace where leadership, diversity training, and innovation are part of everyday life.

Join Our Market-Leading Team

Ford’s commitment to excellence is why we are a leader in the automotive sector. We offer a variety of career paths, from engineering to marketing, all designed to foster professional and personal growth. Our team benefits from Ford’s commitment to professional development and networking opportunities, ensuring that every team member can reach their full potential.

Innovative Work

Engage in work that makes a difference. Ford Motor Company is pioneering developments in electrification, autonomous vehicles, and smart mobility solutions. Our team of over 190,000 employees worldwide is dedicated to crafting experiences that improve the way the world moves.

Be Part of a Great Team

Working at Ford means more than just having a job; it means being part of a global family. Our culture promotes teamwork, integrity, and respect—values that underpin everything we do. We believe in nurturing a diverse and inclusive environment where every employee can thrive.

Future-Proof Your Career

Ford Motor Company is not just a great place to work; it’s a place to build a lasting career. Our employees enjoy competitive benefits, comprehensive health care, and retirement plans that rank among the best in the industry. We support career advancement through extensive training programs and hands-on experience in the latest automotive technologies.

Explore Job Opportunities and Internships

Whether you’re a seasoned professional looking for your next challenge or a student interested in an internship, Ford has opportunities that will harness your skills and ignite your ambition. Our hiring process is straightforward and respectful, designed to match your skills and passions with the right position.

Stay Connected

Join Our Team Search open positions that match your skills and interests. We look for passionate, curious, creative, and solution-driven team players. Ready to start your journey with Ford? Prepare your resume, sharpen your interview skills, and become part of a company that’s building the future of transportation.

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Learn more about Ford Motor Company
Size
183,000 employees
Market Cap
$44.8 billion
Industry
Manufacturing & Automotive
Net Income
-$1.2 billion
Founded
1903
5 Year Trend
-2.1%
Revenue
$127.1 billion
NASDAQ
F
* Ladders Estimates

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