Job DescriptionIn this position...This role designs and manages the next generation of the accessory ecosystem for Ford Fathom, our future connected vehicle, designed from the ground up in California. You will own the end-to-end product lifecycle, from trend-spotting and ideation through partner collaboration, product development, and market launch.
The successful candidate will define what partnership looks like inside the Ford ecosystem and build a totally new ecosystem of products with partners and collaborators. You will navigate the friction between fast-moving consumer product cycles and traditional automotive development, delivering high-margin, highly desired products.
This leader will ensure that all products not only delight the customer but also meet Ford's rigorous standards for safety, durability, and integration with the vehicle.
ResponsibilitiesWhat you'll do...- Trend Forecasting: Monitor global consumer product and technology trends (e.g., CES innovations, mobile tech, gaming, smart devices, lifestyle brands) and translate them into a compelling ecosystem roadmap.
- Business Case Development: Own the P&L for the accessory ecosystem. Develop robust business cases, pricing strategies, and take-rate forecasts, and drive contribution margin at the point of sale.
- Lifecycle Synchronization: Develop strategies to decouple fast-moving consumer product lifecycles from traditional vehicle development cycles, ensuring Ford vehicles always offer fresh, relevant products.
- Requirements Definition: Write clear product requirements that bridge consumer product features with automotive-grade requirements.
- Ecosystem Integration: Champion the integration of accessories with the vehicle and the Ford mobile experience, ensuring a seamless, single-ecosystem customer experience alongside the connected vehicle software roadmap.
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead matrixed teams across Design, CMF, Engineering, Finance, Purchasing, and Sales to deliver products on time and on budget, and lead design and product reviews with senior leadership.
- Strategic Partnerships: Identify, negotiate, and collaborate with leading consumer brands, suppliers, and contract manufacturers to co-develop or white-label innovative products, and define the partnership models that support them.
- Licensing & IP: Work with legal and business development teams to manage licensing, brand, and intellectual property considerations for partner products.
- Launch Strategy: Develop go-to-market plans in partnership with Vehicle Program Management, Marketing, and Sales to bundle accessories into high-value vehicle packages or standalone offerings.
- Agency & Creative Partners: Manage agency and creative partners to bring concepts and brand experiences to life.
- Performance Analytics: Monitor customer feedback, sales, and warranty data to drive continuous product improvement and inform next-generation designs.
QualificationsYou'll have...- Bachelor's Degree in engineering, computer science, product design, or business. or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
- 5+ years of professional experience in Product Management and/or Go-to-Market Strategy.
- Demonstrated verbal, written, and presentation communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.
Even better, you may have...- Master's degree or MBA
- Experience at a leading consumer products or consumer electronics company (e.g., Apple, Google, Samsung).
- A strong sense of product strategy and the ability to define a vision in a new space.
- Experience in automotive, retail, or channel environments.
- Experience building a product ecosystem or platform.
- Experience taking consumer products from concept to market, including pricing, positioning, and launch planning.
- Proven ability to manage complex relationships with external brands, suppliers, and contract manufacturers, and to build co-development partnerships.
- Financial fluency, including P&L ownership, contribution margin, and cost and pricing tradeoffs.
- Understanding of hardware development lifecycles combined with modern Agile methods.
- A relentless drive to challenge the automotive status quo and bring consumer-market speed and innovation to the vehicle.
- Comfort operating in a highly matrixed environment, bridging cultural and operational gaps between design, engineering, and commercial teams.
- Dedication to creating "surprise and delight" moments for the customer.
You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!
As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder...or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:
• 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.
This position is a leadership level 5 and ranges from $148,800-$281,700.
Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.
For more information on salary and benefits, click here: https://fordcareers.co/LL5
Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.
This position is hybrid with a requirement to be onsite four or more days per week.
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