Robotics Staff Product Manager

We made history and now we work to transform the future – for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.

As part of our Manufacturing team, you’ll help build the world-class, state-of-the-art smart vehicles we're known for. In our plants around the world, we’re constantly developing new technologies and processes to further increase our efficiency. You'll get the satisfaction of making great products people use and love.

In this position...

Ford’s Advanced Industrial Technology & Platforms (ATP) team is building scalable robotics products and platform capabilities to reimagine manufacturing across Ford. As a Staff Product Manager, Robotics, you will set product direction and drive delivery for robotics solutions from discovery through pilot and scale—leading through influence across engineering, manufacturing, safety, quality, IT, cybersecurity, and suppliers.

What you'll do...

• Set the product strategy and multi-release roadmap for ATP robotics, balancing immediate operational wins with platform scalability and long-term architecture.
• Lead discovery with plant and operations partners to identify high-value use cases; define personas, workflows, constraints, and measurable outcomes.
• Own the creation and quality of product requirements (PRDs, user stories, acceptance criteria), ensuring they span robotics behavior, integration, safety, and operational readiness.
• Drive cross-functional execution with engineering: prioritize backlogs, define MVP scope, manage tradeoffs, and deliver releases that perform in real industrial environments.
• Define and monitor product KPIs such as uptime/availability, MTTR, throughput and cycle-time impact, deployment lead time, safety incident reduction, and total cost of ownership.
• Lead pilot-to-scale planning: site selection, rollout playbooks, training, support model, and post-deployment iteration based on telemetry and operator feedback.
• Influence technical and business decisions across stakeholders—aligning on architecture choices, sourcing approaches, and operating model (support, monitoring, maintenance).
• Partner with Purchasing and suppliers to evaluate solutions and shape vendor roadmaps; establish clear performance expectations and accountability mechanisms.
• Create a forward path for platform evolution (e.g., vision-guided navigation) while ensuring today’s decisions don’t block tomorrow’s capabilities.

You'll have...

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of experience in product management and/or technical delivery for complex technical products (hardware/software/system + operational deployment).
• Demonstrated ability to lead and align cross-functional teams at scale, driving decisions and outcomes through influence.
• Strong requirements and execution discipline: ability to translate ambiguous problems into crisp scope, measurable success criteria, and release plans.
• Experience using data and operational feedback to prioritize, iterate, and improve product performance over time.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage effectively with both executive stakeholders and engineering teams.

Even better, you may have...

• Experience delivering robotics systems in real-world deployments (e.g., AMRs/AGVs, robotics navigation, fleet management, autonomy behaviors, HMI/operator workflows, teleoperation, cobotics, etc.,).

• Experience taking products from discovery to prototype to pilot to scaled rollout across multiple sites, including change management and operational readiness.

• Familiarity with robotics platform concepts: localization/mapping, motion planning, safety behaviors, teleoperation, fleet orchestration, edge compute, and industrial networking/integration.

• Strong understanding of reliability/serviceability practices (telemetry, failure modes, spares strategy, maintainability, support playbooks).

• Experience with industrial safety processes and standards practices (risk assessments, safe operating procedures, change control).

• Vendor/supplier management experience (RFx support, supplier scorecards, roadmap alignment, performance management).

• MBA or Master’s degree in engineering, robotics, computer science, or a related field.

• You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!

• 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

• 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.

This position is leadership level 6 and ranges from $129,600-244,680.

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.

For more information on salary and benefits, click here: https://fordcareers.co/LL6

Visa sponsorship is available for this position.

Domestical relocation assistance is 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 (onsite four days per week) for candidates who are in commuting distance to a Ford hub location or remote for non-local candidates.