IVI Hardware Architecture - Technical Specialist

Ford’s Electric Vehicles, Digital and Design (EVDD) team is charged with delivering the company’s vision of a fully electric transportation future.

The IVI Hardware Architecture - Technical Specialist is a senior, hands-on individual-contributor role responsible for the hardware architecture, technical direction, and engineering maturity of Ford in-vehicle infotainment electronic control units and their key electrical interfaces.

Responsibilities

• Own the hardware architecture and technical direction for IVI ECU platforms and their interfaces to displays, vehicle networks, power modes, connectivity modules, and associated vehicle electronics.
• Serve as the final technical sign-off for IVI ECU hardware release, approving hardware design and pre- and post-test validation before production.
• Define hardware-level and system-level requirements, interface specifications, architecture principles, design constraints, and validation methods for internal teams and external suppliers.
• Lead technical reviews of schematics, PCB layouts, component selections, power architectures, thermal approaches, high-speed interfaces, and design-validation evidence.
• Evaluate hardware capability and margin for processor, memory, storage, display, connectivity, power, thermal, and network workloads.
• Provide expert technical guidance for ECU boot, wake/sleep, power sequencing, network management, reliability, performance, and hardware/software interaction.
• Lead or support hands-on lab investigations of complex board-, ECU-, and vehicle-level failures using appropriate electrical, thermal, network, and diagnostic tools.
• Review WCCA strategy and results, identify design risks, and drive mitigations with responsible design and supplier teams.
• Define and approve hardware validation, integration, robustness, EMC, environmental, and production-readiness expectations.
• Lead technical root-cause investigations and corrective actions for significant hardware and cross-functional issues using structured methods such as 8D, fishbone, fault-tree analysis, and FMEA.
• Provide technical leadership to suppliers and internal design teams; assess design maturity and provide technical recommendations for gateway, milestone, and release decisions.
• Ensure IVI hardware designs support applicable cybersecurity, functional-safety, EMC, environmental, regulatory, manufacturing, and service requirements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in automotive electronic hardware design, design and release, or electrical/electronic architecture, including work on cockpit, infotainment, connectivity, modem, gateway, or other complex vehicle ECU hardware.
• Demonstrated experience defining hardware architecture, electrical and system requirements, interface specifications, and validation strategies for automotive ECUs, and leading technical design reviews through production.
• Strong ability to read, interpret, and technically review schematics, PCB layouts, data sheets, and validation reports, with deep knowledge of high-performance compute ECU hardware , processors/SoCs, memory and storage interfaces (LPDDR, eMMC/UFS), power delivery and sequencing, thermal management, signal/power integrity, and high-speed vehicle interfaces (Automotive Ethernet, CAN/CAN FD, LIN, USB, PCIe, display).
• Proven experience resolving complex hardware issues at board, module, and vehicle-system levels using structured problem-solving methods (8D, fishbone, fault-tree, FMEA), with strong communication skills across internal teams, suppliers, and cross-functional stakeholders.

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.