ADAS Software Architect

Overview

At Ford, you’ll work on ideas that matter, alongside passionate people who want to make a global impact. Together, we’re shaping the next era of transportation - grounded in purpose, driven by progress. Make your move.

Job Type: Full time

Work Type: Hybrid

As systems become increasingly software-defined, the challenge of integrating complex, multi-source embedded software onto hardware targets has grown exponentially. As an Embedded Software Integration Architect, you will be the visionary behind our software assembly line. You will define the strategic roadmap for how code flows from a developer’s local environment, through automated build and verification stages, and ultimately onto physical hardware or virtual simulators.

Operating at the intersection of Software Engineering, DevOps, and Systems Validation, you will establish the standards for software configuration management, branching models, and build environments. You will architect scalable Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines specifically optimized for the unique constraints of embedded systems (such as resource limitations, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and functional safety requirements). By standardizing tools, virtualized execution environments, and automated quality gates, you will enable our engineering organization to deliver safe, compliant, and thoroughly tested software at pace.

What you'll do...

Integration Strategy & Governance: Define and document the global software integration strategy, branching models, and software configuration management (SCM) policies for complex, multi-repository embedded codebases.

Build System Standardization: Standardize and maintain the build infrastructure, toolchains, and build systems (e.g., CMake, Yocto/BitBake, Bazel) to ensure reproducible, hermetic, and highly optimized builds.

Environment Virtualization: Define and implement strategies for environment consistency, utilizing containerization (e.g., Docker) and virtual platforms/simulation (e.g., QEMU) to enable high-fidelity software testing before physical hardware is available.

Lifecycle & CI/CD Strategy: Architect the software to support automated testing, continuous integration (CI/CD) pipelines, and secure Over-the-Air (OTA) software updates.

Quality Gates & Release Readiness: Establish automated quality gates, test-coverage metrics, and compliance checks that software must pass to be integrated into main release branches.

Supplier & Multi-Source Integration: Define the ingestion process, interface validation, and automated packaging standards for third-party software components, middleware, and BSPs (Board Support Packages).

Automated Test Integration: Collaborate with validation teams to integrate automated test suites into the pipeline, ensuring efficient scheduling and execution of tests on physical HIL test benches.

You'll have...

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

Experience:

5+ years of hands-on experience in embedded software development using C and C++.

5+ years of experience with software configuration management and build processes.

3+ years of experience in a software architect, technical lead, or principal engineer role.

Technical Expertise:

Expert-level knowledge of Git and workflows based on it (branching, merging, conflict resolution in large-scale teams).

Familiarity with complex CI/CD pipelines and build tools (make, CMake, bazel).

Strong scripting skills in Python, Bash, or similar languages for automation and tool integration.

Understanding of microcontroller (MCU) and System-on-Chip (SoC) architectures (e.g., ARM Cortex-M/R/A, RISC-V).

Experience with RTOS and POSIX-compliant operating systems.

Knowledge of driver development, bootloaders, board support packages (BSP), and hardware-software co-design.

Proven experience designing complex, multi-threaded, and multi-core embedded systems.

Communication: Strong technical leadership and communication skills, with a proven ability to define processes, author technical standards, and drive adoption of modern integration practices across diverse engineering teams.

Even better, you may have...

Education: Master’s degree or Ph.D. in a relevant engineering field.

Industry Standards:

Experience with automotive software standards such as AUTOSAR (Classic and Adaptive).

Direct experience designing systems compliant with functional safety standards (e.g., ISO 26262, IEC 61508) and writing safety cases.

Familiarity with Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA), containerization in embedded environments, and virtualization/hypervisors.

Tools & Methodologies:

Experience with AUTOSAR tooling.

Experience with architectural modeling tools (e.g., Enterprise Architect, Cameo, MagicDraw) and SysML/UML.

Experience with Model-Based Design (MBD) tools like MATLAB/Simulink.

Familiarity with Agile/Scrum methodologies and modern DevOps/CI-CD workflows adapted for embedded hardware.

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 a salary grade 6-8.

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

Visa sponsorship 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.

Candidates who are in commuting distance to a Ford hub location may be required to be onsite four or more days per week. #LI-Hybrid #LI-LB1