Engineering Excellence Manager

Engineering Excellence Manager

Ford Credit Europe is at a pivotal moment in time as it undergoes a significant business transformation in an ever-changing digital world. As the financial engine for Ford, Ford Credit is at the heart of the customer experience, transforming the way people access and interact with vehicle finance on a global scale.

The Opportunity

Are you energised by building high-performing engineering organisations from the ground up? Do you thrive on enabling teams to do their best work through optimised processes, cutting-edge tooling, and data-driven insights? Are you excited by the challenge of defining and leading a new function? If so, this is your opportunity to make a real impact at Ford Credit!

This isn't about maintaining the status quo; it’s about establishing, growing, and leading Engineering Excellence at Ford Credit. We’re looking for a visionary leader to shape this critical function and empower our engineering team to reach new heights of effectiveness. We have some initial ideas, borrowing from our Product Operations model, but we’re open to your vision and expertise in defining what Engineering Excellence will become.

What You’re Good At

We're seeking a highly motivated and experienced leader who seeks to create an engineering organisation that is efficient, effective and happy. While specific experience is valuable, we're ultimately looking for the right attitude, leadership skills, and a passion for building high-performing teams. You likely excel in these areas:

• You have experience working in an enterprise software engineering team, and of the challenges that engineers face.
• You are a natural problem-solver with a passion for optimising workflows and building scalable processes.
• You thrive in ambiguity and can create structure and direction from a blank canvas.
• You are highly organised, detail-oriented, and possess strong analytical skills.
• You embrace new technologies and can effectively evaluate, select, and implement tools to enhance productivity.
• You are capable of identifying risks in engineering processes and of developing strategies to mitigate them.
• You are a strong communicator and collaborator, able to influence and build consensus across different teams.
• You are passionate about people development and fostering a culture of continuous learning.

What We're Looking For

We’re looking for someone who is comfortable taking initiative and leading in an ambiguous environment. The list below is not a checklist; please do not be afraid to apply even if you only meet some of the criteria – we’re hiring for attitude and leadership potential over a perfect skill match.

• 4+ years of enterprise software engineering with Java, Python or similar.
• 3+ years of experience in engineering operations, process improvement or a related field.
• Experience building or leading an engineering operations function is a strong plus but is not required.
• Proven track record of improving processes, implementing new technologies, and driving positive change within engineering organisations.
• Experience managing budgets, resources, and vendors.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and influencing skills.
• Curiosity and passion for problem solving, both conceptually and analytically, towards optimizing strategy.
• Experience working in a matrixed team structure and influencing across product areas.
• Drive to research, learn and implement new technologies.
• The ability to work under pressure and adapt to change.

What You’ll Receive in Return

As part of Ford, you’ll enjoy excellent compensation and a comprehensive benefits package, including generous paid time off, pension, and more. You’ll also experience exciting opportunities for professional and personal growth and recognition.

If you have what it takes to build and lead Engineering Excellence at Ford Credit, we’d love to hear from you!

The Company is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity for all and is opposed to any form of less favourable treatment or harassment on the grounds of race, religion or belief, sex, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.

If you are concerned about applying due to disability, please contact us; we’re an inclusive team and would like to discuss what adjustments we can make to support your application.

Note: Banking and Compliance training including fair treatment of customers is mandatory for all FCE employees. Necessary training will be given to any successful candidates that require it.

What You’ll Be Doing

As Head of EU Engineering Excellence, you will be the driving force behind creating a well-oiled engineering machine. You will collaborate closely with engineering leadership, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Product Operations to align on best practices and ways of working. You will define and optimise processes, champion new technologies and drive continuous improvement. Your responsibilities will span four key areas:

Ways of Working:

• Analyse, streamline, and automate engineering processes, including delivery cycles, and planning.
• Design and implement robust reporting mechanisms to track progress, measure performance, and identify areas for improvement.
• Champion and drive the adoption of new and effective ways of working within the engineering organisation.
• Act as coordinator of our software release process, helping the team towards our goal of implementing continuous delivery.
• Ensure that goals (OKRs), strategies, and prioritization are consistent across teams.
• Facilitate the establishment of key performance indicators (KPIs) and ensure these metrics are tracked and reported consistently across teams.

Technology Enablement:

• Own the engineering effectiveness technology roadmap and stack, ensuring alignment with wider company strategy.
• Empower engineering teams to leverage tools to their fullest potential, identifying and implementing new technologies that enhance productivity and collaboration.
• Develop and deliver engaging training programs to ensure seamless adoption and optimal utilisation of tools across the team.

People Development:

• Support engineering leadership in fostering a culture of continuous learning and development.
• Help implement and maintain a consistent skills framework and development program for engineers and managers.
• Help train team members in improved ways to build and deliver.

Insights & Reporting:

• Develop and maintain meaningful reporting and dashboards, using tools like Jira and others, to provide data-driven insights to engineering teams.

The Team

You will join a passionate and collaborative team at Ford Credit, reporting to the Chief Technology Officer – Europe. You’ll work closely with talented engineers, product managers, and business stakeholders across the organisation. You will work at least two days a week in the Ford Credit office in Dunton, Essex. You are likely to visit our offices in Spain and Germany a few times per year.