# Director, Cloud Platform Engineering **Company**: Ford Motor Company **Work arrangement**: remote **Experience**: executive **Job type**: full-time **Salary**: $141,700-$268,300 **Category**: IT **Industry**: Automotive **Wikidata**: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44294 **Apply**: https://efds.fa.em5.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/job/71631?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply **Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_1031a047-b03 ## Description Ford is seeking a visionary Director, Cloud Platform Engineering – Data, Analytics & Agentic Data Cloud to own strategy, architecture, and engineering of Ford's cloud database and analytics platforms , built on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services including Cloud SQL, Spanner, AlloyDB, BigTable, Firestore, and BigQuery. This leader will bring a product-minded, automation-first, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) platform engineering discipline to every layer of Ford's data estate, own Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) and fit-for-purpose database architecture patterns for Product Development Organizations (PDO), drive consolidation and cost optimization of SaaS database products, and define Ford's Agentic Data Cloud patterns , including database MCP servers, Knowledge Catalog, and Conversational Analytics , for consumption by application teams. **Responsibilities:** - Platform Engineering Vision & Leadership: - Serve as Ford's visionary platform engineering leader for cloud databases and analytics , setting a multi-year strategic roadmap that anticipates future AI, security, and scale requirements. - Instill a platform engineering mindset across the data estate , treating databases and analytics systems as internal products with self-service APIs, golden paths, paved roads, and clear SLOs rather than ticket-driven infrastructure. - Drive all platform services through an Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) mindset , defining, provisioning, and managing database and analytics infrastructure as version-controlled, testable, and repeatable code rather than manual configuration. - Continue to deepen partnerships with cloud and SaaS vendors, co-building rich, differentiated capabilities within their platforms so Ford operates as a strategic technical partner rather than a passive consumer. - Build, mentor, and lead a global, high-performing team of platform engineers, architects, and SREs; foster a culture of innovation through hackathons, ideathons, and DevSecOps community events. - Cloud Database & Analytics Platform Engineering: - Architect and operate GCP-native database platforms (Cloud SQL, Spanner, AlloyDB, BigTable, Firestore) with consistent, reusable, IaC-driven platform engineering patterns across provisioning, security, and observability. - Own platform engineering for BigQuery and the broader analytics stack , building governed, self-service data pipelines and reusable analytics tooling for product and data science teams. - Build golden-path templates, service APIs, and IaC-based paved-road automation that let engineering teams provision and operate database and analytics resources safely and consistently at scale. - Database-as-a-Service & Fit-for-Purpose Architecture: - Own Ford's Cloud Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) strategy, enabling self-service provisioning across GCP-native and SaaS database platforms with automated, golden-path IaC pipelines. - Define and evangelize database architecture patterns that guide Product Development Organizations (PDO) toward fit-for-purpose database selection , matching workload characteristics to the right relational, NoSQL, graph, or in-memory technology rather than defaulting to a single platform. - Partner with PDO application and engineering teams to embed these architecture patterns into design reviews, reference architectures, and reusable templates. - SaaS Consolidation & Cost Optimization: - Lead enterprise-wide consolidation of SaaS database products (e.g., MongoDB, Neo4J, Redis), reducing platform sprawl, redundant licensing, and support overhead. - Own full lifecycle management of database, analytics, and SaaS platforms , versioning, patching, upgrade planning, end-of-life tracking, and decommissioning of unused resources , to proactively eliminate unnecessary and duplicate cost. - Own cost-optimization strategy and cloud-cost mindsets (rightsizing, usage governance, cost recommenders) across the data platform portfolio; manage vendor contracts and negotiate enterprise agreements. - Agentic Data Cloud: - Define and evangelize Ford's Agentic Data Cloud strategy, shifting the enterprise from a passive system of intelligence to an agent-centric system of action. - Provide application teams with standardized, reusable patterns for database MCP (Model Context Protocol) Servers, enabling AI agents to safely discover, reason over, and act on enterprise data. - Lead deployment of Knowledge Catalog capabilities for AI-context governance and data discoverability, and roll out Conversational Analytics patterns for natural-language data interaction across Ford's applications. - Define guardrails and human-in-the-loop controls aligned to Ford's Agentic AI Rubric; partner with Google product and engineering teams (GDIA, Enterprise Architecture) on POC design and service launch frameworks. **Requirements:** - 15+ years in software engineering, cloud architecture, and data platform services, including significant leadership experience. - Proven platform engineering ownership of large-scale database and analytics environments on GCP (Cloud SQL, Spanner, AlloyDB, BigTable, Firestore, BigQuery). - Strong hands-on experience with Infrastructure-as-Code tooling and practices, driving platform services through code-defined, version-controlled automation rather than manual provisioning. - Direct experience with SaaS database platforms (MongoDB, Neo4J, Elastic, Redis), including consolidation and cost-optimization initiatives at enterprise scale. - Demonstrated success owning DBaaS and defining fit-for-purpose database architecture patterns adopted by application/product teams. - Demonstrated experience with agentic AI and data platform concepts , MCP servers, Knowledge Catalog, Conversational Analytics, and AI governance frameworks. - Strong background in DevOps/SRE practices, automation, CI/CD, and observability. - Bachelor's degree required. **Benefits:** - 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. ## Skills ### Required - GCP - Cloud SQL - Spanner - AlloyDB - BigTable - Firestore - BigQuery - Infrastructure-as-Code - DBaaS - Agentic Data Cloud - MCP servers - Knowledge Catalog - Conversational Analytics - DevOps - SRE - CI/CD - Observability ### Nice to have - Master's degree - Excellent executive communication skills --- Source: [Apply at efds.fa.em5.oraclecloud.com](https://efds.fa.em5.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/job/71631?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)