Software Engineering Manager Jobs in Michigan

Racing is where our story began.

In 1901, Henry Ford climbed into a car he built himself—"Sweepstakes"—and beat America's most famous driver. He wasn't a racer, but he had to win. He did. Ford Motor Company was born from that victory.

That fighting spirit lives on in Ford Racing today. We're the engineers, strategists, and competitors who bring Ford's track-tested edge into every vehicle we build. Every track, every stage, every proving ground—that's where we prove ourselves.

The result: one of the world's most iconic brands, legendary nameplates, and a team unmatched in the industry.

Our mantra: Race to win, engineer to lead.

If you're a competitor, innovator, or performance obsessive, Ford Racing is where you belong. Help us write the next chapter.

In this position...

The Vehicle Engineering – Features & Human Factors Engineer will lead the integration of customer needs, human-centered design, HMI, selectable drive modes, ergonomics, and vehicle features across Ford Racing programs. This role provides customer-centric design direction to ensure vehicle interfaces, drive mode behaviors, and feature interactions deliver intuitive, engaging, and differentiated experiences that reflect the expectations of performance vehicle customers.

Working closely with Design, Marketing, Customer Insights, Program, Design & Release, hardware, software, and other engineering teams, this individual will translate customer insights into vehicle-level requirements, guide system-level design decisions, resolve cross-functional tradeoffs, and validate the complete vehicle experience. The ideal candidate combines strong analytical and technical capabilities with a passion for performance vehicles, emerging technologies, and delivering exceptional customer experiences.

This role is hybrid and requires at least 4 days per week onsite in Allen Park, MI.

What you'll do...

• Provide customer-centric design direction for HMI layouts, driver interactions, selectable drive modes, feature behaviors, and vehicle settings to deliver intuitive, consistent, and engaging experiences tailored to performance vehicle customers.
• Translate customer insights, behaviors, and needs into vehicle-level requirements, measurable engineering targets, and differentiated user experiences.
• Collaborate with Design, Marketing, Customer Insights, Program, hardware, software, and other engineering teams to align feature content and system-level requirements with overall vehicle objectives.
• Lead human factors research, task analysis, usability evaluations, and customer testing to assess HMI, drive mode selection and feedback, feature discoverability, and overall ease of use.
• Lead customer experience reviews and validate vehicle functionality, usability, and intended driving experiences using analytical tools, prototypes, and physical vehicles.
• Facilitate cross-functional technical tradeoffs and resolve design or engineering issues while maintaining customer experience, safety, and regulatory requirements.
• Manage program feature documentation, engineering systems, and deliverables to achieve program milestones and engineering gateways on time and with quality.
• Establish and maintain human factors guidelines, incorporate emerging technologies and industry best practices, and drive continuous improvements in vehicle engineering and validation efficiency.

You'll have...

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Human Factors Engineering, or a related field.
• 3 years of experience in automotive product development, feature delivery, HMI, human factors engineering, ergonomics, or vehicle usability testing.
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams to solve complex problems, facilitate decisions, and build strong working relationships.
• Ability to work primarily onsite at the Roush 57 facility nearly every weekday.

Even better, you may have...

• Understanding of performance vehicle customers, their expectations and priorities, and the factors that drive an exceptional driving experience.
• Experience providing customer-centric design direction for vehicle interfaces, selectable drive modes, driver controls, or vehicle feature interactions.
• Knowledge of automotive systems, human-centered design, task analysis, cognitive psychology, human-computer interaction, and usability evaluation.
• Experience with customer research, usability testing, software development processes, over-the-air updates, or connected vehicle features.
• Familiarity with applicable automotive safety standards, regulations, and human factors guidelines.
• Strong analytical, communication, presentation, leadership, and problem-solving skills, with demonstrated initiative, adaptability, creativity, and a collaborative approach.
• Passion for performance vehicles, emerging technologies, and delivering intuitive, differentiated customer experiences.

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.
• 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.

This position is a salary grade 5 - 8 and ranges from $65,100 - $166,200.
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.

Internal applicants: moving into this role may result in an adjustment to your current compensation based on the posted pay range for this role, taking into consideration your qualifications and other relevant factors.

For more information on salary and benefits, click here.

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 #FR1 #LI-LC2