Innovation & Transformation Manager

Job Description

Ford Business Solutions (FBS) is a global organization providing centralized, high-value support across key business areas, including Marketing & Sales, Finance, Aftersales, HR, Customer Relationship Centers, Ford Credit, and Enterprise Technology. Operating as Centers of Expertise in a highly dynamic, global environment, our teams combine deep business acumen with cross-functional collaboration to deliver impactful results worldwide.

The Innovation Manager is a pivotal, highly visible role designed to fast-track FBS’s digital transformation journey. You will act as a key promoter and facilitator for our innovation and efficiencies strategy.

In this role, you will bridge the gap between business operations and technical delivery. You will serve as a strategic translator—identifying opportunities for automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI/ML), AI Agents, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) solutions. You will translate business needs into technical specifications for development teams (e.g., in India), coordinate testing, generate organizational efficiencies, and lead a virtual community of practice to promote creativity, uplift digital literacy, and accelerate process simplification across FBS.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Innovation Evolution
• Strategic Roadmap: Identify business priorities and develop the long-term innovation strategy to evolve FBS into a highly efficient, human-centric, and digitally enabled organization.
• Efficiency Generation: Proactively identify process bottlenecks, redundant workflows, and automation opportunities across FBS, driving and facilitating high-impact solutions that generate measurable operational efficiencies, productivity gains, and cost savings.
• Value Creation & KPI Management: Build, design, and facilitate high-impact projects specifically targeted at moving the needle on key business performance indicators (accuracy, speed, and overall operational value).
• Benchmarking: Conduct continuous benchmarking against global shared services and innovation models to ensure FBS remains at the cutting edge of business process automation and digital workspace trends.
• Operational Excellence & Methodology
• Process Improvement: Promote and integrate continuous improvement frameworks (such as Lean, Six Sigma, and Process Re-engineering) into all innovation initiatives.
• Bridge-Building & Solution Design: Collaborate with business teams to map existing processes, identify automation/AI opportunities, and translate business requirements into clear technical specifications and user stories for IT and developer teams.
• Product Management & Quick Wins: Apply product management principles to prioritize projects, define roadmaps, and manage "quick win" deployments (AI/ML, RPA, LCNC) that deliver immediate, user-centric value.
• Testing & Implementation: Guide projects from conceptual proof-of-concept to full-scale deployment. Coordinate user acceptance testing (UAT) with business teams to ensure solutions meet business requirements and deliver intended value.
• Culture, Talent & Promoting Creativity
• Culture of Innovation & Creativity: Cultivate, sustain, and champion an active "Culture of Innovation" across all levels of the FBS organization. Actively promote creativity by organizing workshops, brainstorming sessions, and initiatives that encourage employees to think outside the box and challenge the status quo.
• Virtual Community of Practice: Build and lead a virtual community of technology enthusiasts, Business Analysts, and citizen developers. Foster an environment of collaborative learning, sharing of best practices, and exploration of new digital tools in a global environment.
• Mentorship & Capability Building: Provide coaching and hands-on guidance to colleagues with varying technical backgrounds, helping them apply LCNC and digital tools to simplify their daily tasks.
• Global Connection ("Copy with Pride"): Promote and manage participation in global innovation contests (such as "Ingenious Minds and Innovation Challenge") to showcase local talent. Act as a catalyst for "Copy with Pride" initiatives—identifying successful global practices to implement locally and sharing FBS successes with the wider Ford global network.
• Resource & Stakeholder Management
• Resource Facilitation: Negotiate and secure the necessary resources, stakeholder buy-in, and alignment to support the innovation portfolio.
• Cross-functional Partnership: Work in close partnership with the Process Re-engineering (PRE), Lean, and Transformation teams to align innovation efforts with broader organizational change.
• Strategic Showcasing: Collaborate with internal communications teams to design compelling case studies and showcase successful projects, sparking new creative ideas and demonstrating the business value of digital transformation.
  
  
  

Qualifications

• Strategic Vision: Ability to translate emerging technological trends (e.g., AI/ML, AI Agents, Low-Code/No-Code) into actionable business strategies.
• Product Management Mindset: Proven experience in managing digital initiatives, defining user stories, managing backlogs, and delivering user-centric digital solutions.
• Conceptual Tech Savviness: Strong conceptual understanding of what AI/ML, LLMs (Large Language Models), RPA, and LCNC platforms (e.g., Microsoft Power Platform) can achieve, with the ability to advise business teams on the best tools for their needs; knowledge of coding or software development is a plus.
• Continuous Improvement: Familiarity with continuous improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, or Agile frameworks).
• Bridge Builder & Communicator: Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills. Proven track record of acting as a liaison between non-technical business stakeholders and technical developers/IT teams (especially in cross-cultural, global, or offshore contexts).
• Change Management & Facilitation: Passion for coaching, mentoring, and building communities of practice. Ability to influence and drive cultural transformation.
• Independent Drive: Highly self-motivated, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, drive initiatives forward autonomously, and navigate ambiguity.
• Language Proficiency: Fluent in English, with excellent presentation skills suitable for executive leadership.
• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Business Intelligence, Business Information Systems, Project Management, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
  
  
  

Preferred Experience

• Prior experience working within a Shared Services, Global Business Services (GBS), or corporate global environment.
• Experience in leading change management, digital literacy programs, or internal innovation and creativity campaigns.
• Experience collaborating with offshore development teams (experience with teams in India is a significant plus).
  
  
  

Ford of Mexico is committed to being an equal opportunity employer. We believe that a diverse and inclusive workplace is essential to our success. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, or disability status.

Our focus is to build the best team. If you think you can bring value to Ford, love to collaborate, prioritize and aim to deliver excellence in everything you do, we encourage you to apply!

We thank all candidates for their interest, but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

#FordMexico

About Us

At Ford Motor Company, we believe freedom of movement drives human progress. With our incredible plans for the future of mobility, we have a wide variety of opportunities for you to accelerate your career and help us define tomorrow’s transportation.

About The Team

Ford Quality is responsible for driving continuous improvement for the Ford and Lincoln brands to deliver top quality products and services to delight our customers. We achieve this through operational excellence and global processes and tools, such as Global Product Development System, Quality Operating System, New Model Launch, working with integrated teams in Manufacturing, Product Development, Purchasing, Marketing, Sales and Service, etc.