In this In-Cabin + Visual Design Principle role at Ford Motor Company, you will lead visual design and motion standards for Ford and Lincoln digital experiences spanning in-vehicle systems, connected devices, and mobile apps. You will act as a trusted design authority, setting direction and raising design quality across teams and products.
Role Overview
You will define and evolve visual design principles and motion guidance for DPD, ensuring consistency while adapting to different products, contexts, and platforms. You will guide high-impact design work from early exploration through prototyping and delivery, and you will help teams apply standards with clarity and craft.
Key Responsibilities
- Set and communicate a clear visual design vision for Ford and Lincoln digital experiences, aligning design direction with brand, customer, product, and technical needs.
- Lead the evolution and governance of visual design and motion standards, patterns, and guidance for DPD.
- Shape high-impact design work from exploration through prototyping and delivery, bringing clarity to complex or ambiguous problems.
- Create and guide exemplar work that reflects expected quality, craft, and interaction principles across products.
- Partner with UX, product, research, brand, and engineering leaders to resolve design challenges and deliver cohesive experiences across in-vehicle and off-vehicle touchpoints.
- Guide teams to apply visual design and motion principles consistently, while adjusting appropriately for different products, contexts, and platforms.
- Collaborate with engineering to assess feasibility, define implementation approaches, and maintain design intent through development.
- Lead design critiques and reviews by providing clear, constructive feedback that improves work quality and builds design capability.
- Mentor and influence designers to strengthen visual design and motion skills and improve outcomes across the organization.
- Use customer research, competitive and industry insights, and automotive landscape knowledge to inform design direction and identify opportunities.
- Present design strategy, concepts, and recommendations to partners and senior stakeholders to build alignment and support sound decisions.
- Improve design processes, documentation, and handoffs to enable consistent, scalable application of visual design.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in graphic design, visual communication, interaction design, digital product design, or a related field, or equivalent education and experience.
- 8+ years of experience in visual design and/or motion for digital products, including complex, consumer-facing experiences.
- A strong portfolio showing high-level visual craft, design systems or languages, and consistent execution across interactive experiences.
- Experience defining, evolving, and scaling design principles, standards, patterns, or guidelines across products or teams.
- Proficiency with modern design and prototyping tools including Figma, ProtoPie, Adobe Creative Cloud, After Effects, Rive, and/or 3D animation tools.
- Experience leading design work across disciplines and influencing partners without relying solely on formal authority.
- Strong communication and presentation skills, including the ability to explain design rationale and build alignment with diverse stakeholders.
- A collaborative, constructive approach to critique, feedback, and shared problem-solving.
Technologies
Figma, ProtoPie, Adobe Creative Cloud, After Effects, Rive, and 3D animation tools
Benefits
- 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
- 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
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working with multidisciplinary product teams that include researchers, designers, product managers, and engineers.
- Experience shaping design direction across multiple products, platforms, or customer touchpoints.
- Experience creating motion specifications, production-ready assets, and documentation that support engineering implementation.
- Experience bringing digital products or services from early concept through launch and ongoing evolution.
- Experience mentoring designers or contributing to the growth of a design practice.
- A strong interest in brand expression, digital product design, and the automotive or mobility industry.
- Familiarity with the constraints and opportunities of in-vehicle interfaces and connected experiences.
Work Type and Location
Job Type: Full time
Work Type: Remote (Remote)
Compensation and Level
This position is leadership level 5 and ranges from USD 167,000 to USD 280,000 per year. Final salary grade determination will be based on the candidate’s skills and experience, with base salary set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility, and competitive market value. More information on salary and benefits is available at https://fordcareers.co/LL5.
Eligibility and Posting Notes
- Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.
- Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States, and employment eligibility verification will be required at the time of hire.
- #LI-Hybrid
- #LI-CL2
