Ford Defense Business Manager

Ford Defense Business Manager

At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters. Ford Defense is establishing a new business that requires disciplined enterprise setup, senior-leader alignment, clear governance, and coordinated execution across functions.

The Business Manager will serve as a strategic business integrator and operating lead during the formation and evolution of the business, supporting senior leaders as they define the operating model, standup the business, establish internal governance, and build the management systems required to operate effectively.

Responsibilities

Business Formation & Stand-Up

• Support senior leaders in defining and executing the roadmap to establish Ford Defense as a scalable business, translating strategic intent into workstreams, milestones, decisions, and accountable owners.
• Support cross-functional coordination of stand-up activities, including definition of organizational boundaries, responsibilities, processes, systems, financial structures, and operating interfaces with the broader enterprise.
• Partner with Finance, Legal, Purchasing, HR, IT, Security, Engineering, Manufacturing, and other functions to define and implement the capabilities required for the new business.
• Identify issues created by existing enterprise processes or policies and drive pragmatic solutions that preserve appropriate controls while enabling speed and accountability.

Governance & Operating Model

• Design and implement the internal governance model, including decision rights, approval authorities, management forums, escalation paths, and operating cadences.
• Establish clear interfaces between Ford Defense leadership and enterprise functions to ensure decisions are made at the appropriate level and with defined accountability.
• Develop executive-level governance materials, dashboards, decision briefs, and action tracking for leadership reviews.
• Ensure governance evolves with maturity, scale, risk profile, and strategic priorities of the business rather than becoming unnecessarily bureaucratic.
• Define and maintain core business-management processes, including annual planning, objective setting, resource prioritization, risk management, and performance reviews.

Strategic Business Management

• Serve as a trusted business partner to senior leaders, converting strategic priorities into coordinated execution across the organization.
• Develop business cases, options, recommendations, and executive summaries to support investment, resource, partnership, and operating decisions.
• Establish and monitor KPIs covering financial performance, program execution, operational readiness, growth, risk, and organizational health.
• Coordinate strategic planning, operating reviews, and leadership priorities to maintain alignment across functions and programs.
• Provide fact-based analysis and challenge assumptions when required to improve business performance and decision quality.

Cross-Functional Integration & Execution

• Act as a central integration point across Ford Defense and enterprise stakeholders, ensuring issues are surfaced early and resolved with clear ownership.
• Lead complex, ambiguous initiatives that span multiple organizations and do not have an established playbook.
• Drive action closure and accountability across leadership decisions and major business-establishment workstreams.
• Build effective working relationships across functional and organizational boundaries, balancing the needs of the new business with enterprise requirements.
• Support organizational change and communication as responsibilities, processes, and governance structures evolve.

Role Evolution

• Continuously assess the needs of the business and adapt the scope of the Business Manager role as Ford Defense progresses from formation to steady-state operations and growth.
• Transition emphasis over time from stand-up and setup activities toward business performance, strategic planning, portfolio integration, operational efficiency, and growth enablement.
• Build repeatable processes and management systems while maintaining flexibility appropriate for a developing business.
• Anticipate capability gaps and recommend changes to organization, governance, processes, or resources before they constrain execution.

Qualifications

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree
• 8+ years of experience in business management, strategy, program management, operations, finance, engineering, or related roles within a complex organization.
• 3+ years of experience leading cross-functional initiatives involving senior leaders and multiple enterprise functions.
• 3+ years of program management and organizational skills, with the ability to convert ambiguous objectives into structured plans and measurable outcomes.
• 2+ years of experience developing business cases, operating plans, KPIs, and executive-level recommendations.
• 2+ years of executive communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex issues into concise decisions, risks, and recommendations.
• 1+ years of experience with governance, internal controls, delegated authorities, compliance requirements, and risk-management frameworks.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience establishing a new business, business unit, subsidiary, joint venture, carve-out, or major enterprise transformation.
• Experience in defense, government contracting, regulated industries, automotive, aerospace, or advanced engineering businesses.
• Experience working across Finance, Legal, Purchasing, HR, IT, Security, Engineering, and Manufacturing organizations.
• Experience with strategic planning, portfolio management, organizational design, or business operations.
• Ability to influence without direct authority and create alignment among stakeholders with competing objectives.
• Comfort moving between strategy and detailed execution, with a bias toward action and measurable results.
• Confidence to challenge the status quo, simplify processes, and build new ways of working when existing approaches do not meet the needs of the business.
• High degree of judgment, discretion, accountability, and attention to detail. Ability to influence without direct authority and create alignment among stakeholders with competing objectives.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving environment where roles, processes, organizational boundaries, and priorities are still being defined.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage
• 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
• Generous vacation time, sick/personal time, and paid holidays, including between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day