Director, Enterprise Architect – Enterprise API, AI Security & Governance, Engineering Excellence

We are seeking a Director-level Enterprise Architect to lead identity, API, and AI security governance across the global enterprise, operating at the intersection of cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure & platforms, and emerging AI technologies.

The ideal candidate combines deep hands-on technical credibility across cloud, AI, and security domains with the leadership maturity to build and grow a large, cross-functional team of polyglot architects from the ground up, in a greenfield security architecture practice.

Responsibilities

API Security Architecture

• Design and govern secure architecture patterns for Ford's high-traffic, business-critical APIs, embedding security and governance directly into the API lifecycle.
• Partner with platform engineering to strengthen authentication, authorization, and threat protection across the API gateway ecosystem.
• Champion a shift-left approach to API security and compliance by embedding automated checks directly into the build phase, catching issues early in the development lifecycle.
• Familiarity with security tooling such as FOSSA, Cycode, 42Crunch, Cloud Armor, PRISMA is a strong plus.

Identity & Access Architecture

• Architect a unified, vendor-agnostic identity fabric across Ford's global enterprise, resolving the complexity of a multi-IdP environment while eliminating vendor lock-in.
• Define modern application authorization patterns , including OAuth On-Behalf-Of (OBO) flows and delegated access models , that scale securely across applications, APIs, and AI agents.
• Establish governance standards spanning workforce, customer, and machine/non-human identities.

AI & Agent Security Governance

• Define and enforce enterprise-wide governance frameworks for MCP, APIs, Agents, and Skills.
• Partner with the Platform team (EPEO) to evaluate and govern the enterprise, AI Gateway.
• Maintain deep, current knowledge of the agent-building ecosystem , low-code/no-code and pro-code options using Microsoft and Gemini Enterprise, plus hands-on expertise in the Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) , to guide secure, scalable agent adoption.

Engineering Excellence – Patterns & Reference Architecture

• Design and publish reusable patterns and reference architectures for AI solutions, giving teams across Ford consistent, secure building blocks rather than ad-hoc implementations.
• Build starter apps/templates for the Google ADK, providing pro-code agent developers a secure, governed foundation to build from.

Cloud & Infrastructure Architecture

• Lead strategy for multi-cloud interoperability, ensuring consistent, portable security architecture across cloud providers.
• Maintain a strong command of GCP architecture , scalability, resiliency, and cost/FinOps , to guide sound, cost-conscious infrastructure decisions.

Applied AI & Insights

• Apply predictive AI models to real enterprise use cases, delivering actionable insights that inform security, architecture, and business strategy.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with cybersecurity, platform (EPEO), infrastructure, and data/AI (GDAI) teams to align governance and reference architectures with evolving platform capabilities and enterprise roadmaps.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead, mentor, and grow a cross-functional team of 20+ polyglot architects (Java, UI, AI, Python, GCP).
• Build a culture of Engineering Excellence , driving technical rigor, continuous learning, and cross-skilling.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive experience in enterprise architecture, cybersecurity architecture, or platform engineering, including significant time in identity & access management (IAM) and API security architecture.
• Proven, hands-on experience architecting multi-IdP identity environments, with deep knowledge of protocols such as OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML , including practical implementation of OBO (On-Behalf-Of) flows and delegated authorization patterns.
• Demonstrated experience with API gateway architecture, threat protection, and API lifecycle governance at enterprise scale.

Preferred Qualifications

• Multi-cloud architecture experience (GCP plus AWS/Azure), particularly around interoperability and portability of security controls.
• Prior experience in the automotive, manufacturing, or large-scale digital/eCommerce enterprise environment.