Job DescriptionTechnician Success Program Innovation Manager In this position... The Technician Success Program Innovation Manager role serves as the innovation engine for technician-pipeline growth-exploring what is possible, taking calculated risks, testing unconventional ideas, and transforming the strongest concepts into scalable programs. The leader will develop and incubate initiatives from initial concept through research, business-case development, pilot execution, measurement, refinement, and broader deployment. Successful programs will ultimately be transitioned to the appropriate operational team with clear processes, governance, resources, and performance expectations.
The Technician Success Program Innovation Manager will work across education, industry, government, community, technology, media, and workforce-development channels to reach new and often untapped sources of technician talent. This includes identifying opportunities to engage students before they make career decisions, reintroduce the skilled trades to new audiences, reach career changers and underserved populations, and create innovative partnerships that make automotive careers more visible, accessible, and desirable.
The ideal candidate is a visionary strategist, creative problem-solver, and disciplined executor who is energized by possibilities and unafraid to break the mold. This individual must be willing to think big, lead the charge, challenge conventional thinking, and pursue ideas that have not been attempted before-while maintaining strong operational discipline, financial responsibility, and accountability for measurable results.
In addition to leading early-engagement innovation, this role will manage strategic initiatives, pilot scaling, special projects, executive leadership requests, project-management activities, and the development of executive-level presentations and recommendations. The position may also oversee Forward Tech media, marketing, and promotional strategy to strengthen awareness of automotive careers and connect potential talent with Ford and Lincoln opportunities.
ResponsibilitiesWhat you'll do...Leadership & Innovation
- Lead, coach, and inspire a high-performing team and network of project contributors, vendors, agencies, and cross-functional partners
- Create a culture that rewards curiosity, imagination, experimentation, calculated risk-taking, accountability, and results
- Challenge traditional assumptions about where technician talent comes from, how individuals enter the profession, and how Ford engages them
- Encourage the organization to think beyond existing programs and conventional recruiting channels to identify new talent populations, partnerships, technologies, and engagement models
- Create space for bold ideas while establishing the discipline required to evaluate, test, refine, and responsibly scale them
- Serve as a visible champion for innovation and early engagement, inspiring internal and external stakeholders to reimagine the future automotive technician pipeline
- Build organizational capability by developing repeatable approaches for innovation, program incubation, pilot execution, project management, and scalable implementation
Technician-Pipeline Strategy & Early Engagement
- Develop and lead a comprehensive early-engagement strategy designed to increase awareness of automotive careers and expand the number and diversity of individuals entering the technician pipeline
- Identify critical points at which students, families, educators, career changers, and other potential talent populations make decisions about education and employment
- Design strategies that engage potential technicians earlier, create meaningful exposure to the profession, and establish clear pathways into Ford and Lincoln dealerships
- Explore new approaches for reaching elementary, middle school, high school, postsecondary, military, community-based, career-transition, and other nontraditional talent populations
- Develop innovative concepts that address barriers to entering automotive careers, including awareness, perception, access, cost, tools, transportation, training availability, and clarity of career pathways
- Partner with Ford and Lincoln dealers to understand local workforce needs and develop pipeline solutions that connect potential talent with meaningful dealership opportunities
- Use labor-market data, demographic trends, industry research, dealer feedback, and participant insights to identify emerging talent opportunities and pipeline risks
- Ensure new strategies complement established early-career programs while exploring opportunities beyond the organization's current program portfolio
- Partner closely with the Early Career Entry Programs leader to ensure alignment, eliminate duplication, and transition proven programs into sustainable operational ownership
- Position Ford and Lincoln as leaders in building the next generation of automotive technicians
New Program Design & Incubation
- Imagine, design, and develop new programs, experiences, partnerships, campaigns, and talent pathways that expand the automotive technician pipeline
- Translate emerging workforce needs, dealer challenges, leadership priorities, field insights, and market opportunities into innovative program concepts and actionable strategies
- Lead initiatives from early ideation through research, design, business-case development, stakeholder alignment, pilot execution, evaluation, refinement, and launch
- Establish a structured incubation model that allows the organization to test bold ideas quickly while maintaining clear objectives, governance, and accountability
- Build strategic frameworks, program models, implementation plans, funding recommendations, and executive proposals for new initiatives
- Evaluate each opportunity based on its strategic alignment, potential pipeline impact, operational feasibility, financial requirements, scalability, and long-term value
- Identify opportunities to use technology, immersive experiences, competitions, digital platforms, social media, experiential learning, community partnerships, and other emerging methods to reach potential technicians
- Seek inspiration and transferable practices from industries and organizations outside traditional automotive training and recruitment
- Create programs that are relevant, engaging, accessible, and capable of changing how prospective talent views automotive careers
Pilot Development, Evaluation & Scaling
- Design and lead pilots that test new talent sources, engagement experiences, technologies, partnerships, communication methods, and technician-pipeline strategies
- Establish clear pilot objectives, target populations, success measures, roles, timelines, resources, risks, and decision points before implementation
- Develop pilots with enough flexibility to encourage learning and innovation while maintaining appropriate structure and accountability
- Monitor pilot execution and use quantitative and qualitative insights to evaluate effectiveness, participant experience, dealer value, financial viability, and scalability
- Make clear, evidence-based recommendations to expand, redesign, pause, or discontinue pilots
- Create implementation roadmaps, operating models, playbooks, resource plans, and transition strategies for initiatives approved for broader deployment
- Partner with operational leaders to transition mature programs into sustained operations with clearly defined ownership, governance, funding, processes, and performance expectations
- Capture lessons learned and apply insights from both successful and unsuccessful pilots to strengthen future program design
- Create a portfolio approach to innovation that balances immediate pipeline needs with longer-term, transformational opportunities
Strategic Initiatives & Executive Leadership Support
- Lead complex, high-priority strategic initiatives and special projects sponsored by executive leadership and other senior stakeholders
- Translate broad, evolving, or ambiguous leadership requests into clear scopes, workstreams, deliverables, milestones, and decision points
- Develop executive-level presentations, strategy decks, business cases, briefing materials, talking points, and recommendations that communicate complex information clearly and persuasively
- Synthesize data, stakeholder perspectives, operational considerations, external trends, and financial implications into concise narratives that support leadership decisions
- Anticipate executive questions, risks, and information needs and ensure materials are accurate, polished, visually compelling, and decision-ready
- Provide timely and thoughtful support for ad hoc leadership requests while maintaining appropriate focus on established strategic priorities
- Represent Technician Success in enterprise initiatives, innovation forums, strategic planning sessions, project reviews, and executive-level discussions
- Identify opportunities to connect leadership priorities with larger technician-pipeline strategies and long-term workforce objectives
Project & Program Management
- Lead multiple concurrent projects from initiation through implementation, ensuring alignment with scope, schedule, budget, quality, and intended business outcomes
- Establish disciplined project-management practices, including project charters, work plans, milestone tracking, risk management, stakeholder engagement, decision logs, and status reporting
- Coordinate complex dependencies across internal teams, dealers, field organizations, vendors, agencies, educational institutions, community partners, and external stakeholders
- Identify and resolve barriers, risks, resource constraints, and competing priorities that could affect successful delivery
- Create transparent reporting mechanisms that provide leadership and stakeholders with clear visibility into progress, decisions, risks, outcomes, and required actions
- Maintain project momentum through consistent follow-up, documented accountability, and clearly defined next steps
- Develop repeatable project-management tools and processes that improve organizational efficiency, speed, and executional consistency
- Balance the need for innovation and agility with disciplined planning, documentation, governance, and delivery
Data, Insights & Pipeline Measurement
- Lead a highly data-centric approach to technician-pipeline development, program incubation, and pilot management
- Establish KPIs that measure awareness, engagement, application, enrollment, completion, placement, conversion into Ford and Lincoln dealerships, retention, dealer participation, program quality, and return on investment
- Create evaluation frameworks that measure both immediate program performance and long-term contribution to technician-pipeline growth
- Aggregate, analyze, and synthesize information across multiple systems, programs, geographic markets, and stakeholder groups
- Use labor-market data, demographic insights, dealer demand, participant feedback, program results, and external research to guide investment and strategy
- Identify emerging trends, talent gaps, underserved populations, geographic risks, and opportunities for pipeline expansion
- Translate complex data into compelling stories, actionable insights, and clear strategic recommendations for executive leadership and key stakeholders
- Use evidence and lessons learned to continuously refine programs, improve participant experiences, and strengthen business outcomes
- Ensure innovation is supported by measurable objectives and a clear understanding of its potential impact on Ford and Lincoln dealer technician needs
Process Development & Operational Transition
- Build scalable, repeatable processes that move initiatives from early-stage concepts to sustainable operating models
- Develop governance structures, implementation standards, decision frameworks, playbooks, and documentation that support consistent execution
- Establish clear stage gates and decision criteria for advancing programs through ideation, incubation, piloting, scaling, and operational transition
- Identify opportunities to streamline processes, remove barriers, reduce complexity, eliminate waste, and accelerate implementation
- Determine when programs have demonstrated sufficient value, stability, and scalability to transition into long-term operational ownership
- Partner with receiving leaders and teams to ensure successful handoff, knowledge transfer, resource alignment, accountability, and sustained performance
- Continue to monitor newly transitioned programs during the stabilization period and address implementation risks as needed
- Apply lessons learned across the innovation portfolio to continuously improve program-development and scaling practices
Forward Tech Media, Marketing & Storytelling
- Potentially oversee Forward Tech media, marketing, and promotional strategy to increase awareness of automotive careers and strengthen the technician pipeline
- Develop bold, audience-centered communication strategies that make automotive technician careers visible, relevant, exciting, and accessible
- Use authentic technician stories, dealership experiences, emerging technology, career advancement opportunities, and community impact to reshape perceptions of the profession
- Identify innovative media channels, content formats, partnerships, and experiences that reach younger audiences, career influencers, educators, families, career changers, and underserved populations
- Partner with communications, creative, agency, digital, social media, and business teams to ensure consistent messaging, brand alignment, and high-quality execution
- Translate technical programs and career opportunities into compelling stories tailored to prospective technicians, current technicians, dealers, schools, community partners, and executive audiences
- Establish content strategies, communication calendars, audience-segmentation plans,
