Skip to main content
Ford Careers (Home)
Build a future you can believe in.

Mechatronic Systems Supervisor

Job ID
69718
Location
Dearborn, Michigan
Category
PD Operations and Quality
Apply Now

At Ford, you’ll work on ideas that matter, alongside passionate people who want to make a global impact. Together, we’re shaping the next era of transportation—grounded in purpose, driven by progress. Make your move.

  • Job Type: Full time
  • Work Type: Hybrid
Apply Now

The Mechatronic Systems Supervisor leads and develops a team of Core Systems Engineers responsible for defining, developing, and validating the logical requirements for new and modified mechatronic vehicle features (e.g., electric power steering, e-actuators, motor/gear systems, sensor-actuator control loops, and closed-loop control systems). The team owns the feature definition process end-to-end — from stakeholder/use-case elicitation, through Concept of Operations, system definition, system analysis, and functional safety (DFMEA) development, to the generation and handoff of logical requirements to the Mechatronics application team.

Beyond requirements handoff, the Supervisor's team remains the primary stakeholder throughout the iterative hardware/software cascade and simulation activities performed by Mechatronics, leads the functional safety-to-DFMEA cross-validation checkpoint, and serves as the accountable owner of system/subsystem sign-off. The team also leads physical realization of the system — building mockups, fixtures, or 3D-printed prototypes — and develops and executes the associated test plans.

The Supervisor is accountable for the technical quality, timeliness, and process discipline of the team's requirements and sign-off deliverables, for resource planning and workload distribution across programs, and for the professional growth of direct reports. The role acts as the primary escalation point and program-facing leader for mechatronic feature development, balancing engineering rigor, program timing, and cross-functional relationships with the program, customer experience and vehicle architecture teams, the Mechatronics application team, and quality/supplier partners.

Team Leadership & People Management

  • Directly supervise, coach, and develop Core Systems Engineers, setting individual and team goals aligned to program milestones and department objectives

  • Conduct performance management, including goal setting, performance reviews, skills development plans, and career growth conversations

  • Plan team capacity and staffing; assign engineers to features/programs based on workload, complexity, and development needs

  • Recruit, onboard, and mentor new engineers; identify training needs (e.g., requirements management tools, MATLAB/Simulink, ISO 26262, ASPICE, systems modeling) and coordinate skill-building

  • Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and systems thinking across the full feature lifecycle within the team

Feature Intake & Requirements Definition

  • Oversee team communication and coordination of the Feature development process

  • Guide the team's engagement with program, customer experience, and vehicle architecture stakeholders to understand the feature vision, define the problem, identify stakeholders, and collect use cases

  • Ensure the team develops sound Concept of Operations, system definition (structure, behavior, interfaces), and system analysis deliverables for each new or modified feature

  • Review and approve the team's logical requirements prior to handoff, ensuring completeness, testability, and traceability to use cases and system definition artifacts

  • Direct the team's DFMEA workstream in parallel with requirements development

Mechatronics Handoff, Cross-Validation & Sign-Off

  • Own the handoff of logical requirements to the Mechatronics application team, and ensure the team provides ongoing, iterative support as Mechatronics cascades requirements to hardware/software and develops MATLAB/Simulink models and virtual (HIL/SIL) verification

  • Drive the functional safety-to-DFMEA cross-validation checkpoint, ensuring hazards and high-severity failure modes identified by Core SE and Mechatronics are fully reconciled with no open gaps prior to sign-off

  • Serve as the accountable leader representing Core SE as the primary stakeholder in formal system/subsystem sign-off decisions, jointly with the Mechatronics team, at program gateways

  • Ensure open issues, non-conformances, and engineering waivers are tracked, risk-assessed, and resolved prior to sign-off

  • Maintain requirements traceability from use cases and system definition through logical requirements, verification, and sign-off

Physical Prototyping & Test Leadership

  • Lead the team's ownership of physical system realization, including mockups, fixtures, and 3D-printed/rapid prototypes

  • Oversee the development and execution of test plans against industry-standard test criteria to validate physical prototypes

  • Review test results and root-cause analyses, and ensure findings are fed back into requirements or design as needed

  • Ensure documentation of prototype builds, test plans, and results is complete and audit-ready

Cross-Functional & Program Leadership

  • Act as the primary liaison between the Core Systems Engineering team and program management, customer experience and vehicle architecture teams, the Mechatronics application team, quality, and suppliers

  • Represent the team at program gateway reviews, sign-off boards, and DFMEA workshops; communicate requirements status, sign-off status, technical risks, and mitigation plans to engineering management and program stakeholders

  • Ensure compliance with relevant standards (e.g., ISO 26262 Functional Safety, IATF 16949, ASPICE, SAE) throughout the feature lifecycle

  • Escalate and resolve resource, timing, and technical conflicts that affect program milestones

  • Champion continuous improvement of the feature definition, sign-off, and prototyping process

Required

  • Bachelor's degree in Mechatronics, Mechanical, Electrical, Systems, or Automotive Engineering (or related field)
  • 10+ years of experience in systems engineering, requirements development, or mechatronic systems engineering within automotive or a related industry, including experience generating and owning logical/system requirements
  • 2+ years of experience leading, supervising, or mentoring engineers, either in a formal management role or as a technical lead
  • Strong understanding of the systems engineering lifecycle: stakeholder/use-case elicitation, Concept of Operations, system definition, system analysis, and requirements validation
  • Experience with DFMEA and cross-validation of functional safety findings against design failure modes
  • Familiarity with requirements management tools (e.g., Jama), systems/requirements traceability practices, and Agile/JIRA-based program tracking
  • Working knowledge of control system modeling (MATLAB/Simulink) and hardware/software cascade concepts sufficient to guide iterative collaboration with the Mechatronics application team
  • Experience overseeing physical prototype development (mockups, fixtures, 3D printing/rapid prototyping) and test plan development/execution
  • Strong people-leadership skills: coaching, performance management, workload planning, and conflict resolution
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present requirements, risk, and sign-off recommendations to senior program leadership and review boards
  • English proficiency

Preferred

  • Experience with ISO 26262 (Functional Safety) and ASPICE processes for mechatronic/embedded systems
  • Experience with SysML/Cameo or other formal systems modeling tools
  • Knowledge of vehicle network protocols (CAN, LIN, Ethernet, FlexRay)
  • Familiarity with statistical tolerance analysis, DFMEA/PFMEA, and reliability/durability testing methods
  • Prior experience in a feature ownership, release engineering, or sign-off authority role within an OEM or Tier 1 mechatronics environment
  • Experience with HIL/SIL test environments and tools (dSPACE, CANoe/CANalyzer, LabVIEW) to support technical dialogue with the Mechatronics team

Key Competencies

  • Systems thinking across the full feature lifecycle, from stakeholder need to physical validation
  • Strong ownership and accountability for requirements quality and sign-off decisions
  • Ability to synthesize complex, cross-disciplinary information into clear engineering and staffing decisions
  • Effective coaching and development of engineering talent
  • Skilled cross-functional collaborator across program, customer experience, vehicle architecture, Mechatronics, and quality teams
  • Sound judgment under program timing pressure while maintaining rigor on safety and quality

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 leadership level 6 and ranges from $115,500-$218,100. 
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/LL6

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

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

#VehicleHardwareEngineering LI-KH2

Apply Now

Looking for jobs tailored to you?

Upload Your Resume

Change the world with your ideas.

Speak up. We’re listening. At Ford, we believe the right ideas, and the people behind them, can move an entire industry. Here, you'll work with teams who value your voice, push bold ideas forward, and leave a mark that lasts.

An office lobby with people in various activities.

Support designed to go the distance.

From day one, Ford invests in you with medical benefits built to help you plan for what’s next. You’ll also get support for you and your family that meets you at every step, so you can move forward with confidence.

  • Health and Wellness

    Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, mental health, and unique wellness perks keep you and your family supported every step of the way.

  • Financial and Retirement Programs

    Build a strong financial future with robust retirement contributions, savings programs, and free personalized financial planning tools.

  • Flexible Vacation and Holidays

    Enjoy your time away from work with generous vacation, holidays, and flexible family leave designed to help you balance life and work with ease.

  • Vehicle Discount Program

    The best thing about building great products is driving them! The second-best thing: sharing your discount with family and friends so they can drive them, too.

  • Family Growth and Support

    Grow your family confidently with fertility, surrogacy, and adoption assistance, paid parental leave, and a supportive new-parent ramp-up program.

  • Additional Programs

    Enjoy unexpected extras like pet insurance, legal services, identity protection, and access to convenient health and wellness services.

Ford gives me the space to innovate, to lead, and to serve — all while staying true to who I am as an engineer, educator, and parent. It’s not just a career; it’s a community that drives change.

Related Content

  • A century of tailgate innovation.

    Read our Tailgate Tale

    For nearly a century, Ford engineers have adapted and improved tailgate experiences to meet the needs of station wagon, SUV and truck customers.
  • The women of Ford from the 1950s to the 1980s.

    Making History

    Women of Ford: 1950s-1980s Looking to the women of the past to inspire our future.
  • The women of Ford from the 1990s to 2020s.

    Follow Her Lead

    Women of Ford: 1990s-2020s Looking to the women of the past to inspire our future.
  • Ford Canada

    Ford Canada

    Discover career opportunities at Ford of Canada across manufacturing, engineering, software development, skilled trades, and corporate functions. Learn about internships, training programs, and why Ford is recognized as a top employer in Canada.
  • Ford employees in Mexico.

    Ford Mexico

    Ya sea que estés comenzando tu carrera o buscando dar el siguiente paso, Ford of Mexico te brinda la oportunidad de trabajar junto a equipos talentosos que están definiendo los vehículos y las tecnologías del mañana. Explora las vacantes disponibles y descubre programas diseñados para ayudarte a crecer, desarrollar nuevas habilidades y generar un impacto real.
  • BlueOval Battery Park Michigan

    BlueOval Battery Park Michigan

    Discover career opportunities at BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, America’s first automaker-backed LFP battery plant. We’re creating 1,700 new jobs to build the next generation of Ford electric vehicles, foster innovation, and strengthen our community.
  • Employees at Long Beach Ford office.

    Ford US

    Explore why Ford is America's most iconic company. Learn about our iconic history, innovative culture, and available roles across the U.S. and globally.
  • Ford career opportunities in Michigan.

    Life in Michigan

    Discover exciting career opportunities at Ford in Michigan, where history meets high-tech innovation. From our World Headquarters to iconic manufacturing hubs, join a global team shaping the future of mobility in the place where it all began.
  • Ford Designers showcase new technology on a clay inside the showroom after the announcement of a new Ford World Headquarters.

    Ford Design

    Explore rewarding design careers at Ford, where innovation meets customer-centric experiences. Join a global team in Dearborn, Shanghai, Melbourne, and more to create must-have products and iconic vehicles.
  • Ford human resources team.

    Human Resources

    Explore exciting HR career opportunities at Ford. Whether you're coaching leaders or shaping workforce strategies, Ford offers a dynamic environment where you can accelerate your career with an iconic brand.
  • Ford employees in India collaborating.

    Ford Business Solutions India

    Explore rewarding career opportunities at Ford Business Solutions, India. Join a global hub of technology and business services with over 12,000 employees. Whether you’re an expert in AI, digital marketing, or financial analysis, work on transformative projects that redefine industry boundaries.
  • Ford employee at Kansas City Assembly Plant.

    Kansas City Assembly Plant

    Join the team building America’s best-selling vehicles like the Ford F-150 and Ford Transit at Kansas City Assembly Plant (KCAP) in Claycomo, Missouri. From skilled trades and hourly production roles to salaried professional positions, KCAP offers comprehensive benefits and a pathway to build your own legacy.
  • Ford vehicle hardware engineering team shape's tomorrow's cars.

    Vehicle Hardware Engineering

    Build the future with Ford’s VHE team. Develop electric vehicles, driver-assist features, and smart mobility solutions. Join a global team of engineers shaping tomorrow’s cars.
  • Ford Argentina.

    Ford Argentina

    Discover a career at Ford Argentina, where over 100 years of legacy meets Manufacturing 4.0 innovation. Ford Argentina offers transformative opportunities in manufacturing, engineering, product development, and marketing. With programs designed for personal and professional growth, Ford empowers employees to thrive.
  • Ford Argentina

    Ford Argentina

    Súmate a equipos excepcionales que trabajan todos los días para definir el futuro de la movilidad. Descubre las oportunidades de carrera que Ford Argentina tiene para ti y sé parte de una compañía que combina tradición, innovación y visión de futuro.
  • Ford Brazil

    Ford Brazil

    Explore tech careers, internships, and training programs at Ford Brazil. Join a team driving innovation in connectivity, electrification, and community impact.
  • Ford Brazil

    Ford Brazil

    Explore carreiras em tecnologia, estágios e programas de treinamento na Ford Brasil. Junte-se a uma equipe que impulsiona a inovação em conectividade, eletrificação e impacto na comunidade.
  • Ford employees in the United Kingdom.

    Ford UK

    Discover rewarding career opportunities at Ford UK, the nation’s number one car and commercial vehicle manufacturer. Learn about our culture of innovation, community engagement, and well-being, and find jobs aligned with your skills and passions.

Jobs For You.

Explore roles tailored to your interests, based on your preferences and experience.

More Jobs

Be the first to know about new jobs.

SIGN UP FOR JOB ALERTS

Keep up on all the latest opportunities at Ford.

Interested InSelect a job category from the list of options. Search for a location and select one from the list of suggestions. Finally, click “Add” to create your job alert.

  • PD Operations and Quality, Dearborn, Michigan, United StatesRemove

By submitting your information, you acknowledge that you have read our privacy policy and consent to receive email communication from Ford.

Looking for jobs tailored to you?

Upload Your Resume