Controls Engineer

Ford Motor Company has endured and thrived for more than 118 years by reimagining how things are built. Today, Ford is leading a once-in-a-generation transformation in manufacturing — scaling EVs, integrating humanoid robotics, additive manufacturing, AI vision, and digital platforms into one seamless operating system: the Ford Production System (FPS/FPS+) that operates within the FAST framework. Ford Motor Company is undergoing a historic industrial shift — from building great vehicles to building great systems that scale across them. The Advanced Industrial Technology & Platforms (AITP) organisation was created to operationalise that shift. Our job is not to deploy isolated tools; it is to build a system that learns from factory truth, transforms it into scalable platforms, and turns those platforms into enterprise business value. Advanced Industrial Technology and Platforms (ATP) is a new, centralised organisation designed to position Ford to lead industrial innovation. This team will accelerate our digital evolution and manufacturing excellence — advancing the modernisation of our Ford Manufacturing operations with cutting-edge technology. As part of Ford Manufacturing, ATP is designed to integrate directly into our manufacturing sites, partner across teams (GME, safety, etc.) and drive innovation from initial idea to full implementation.

ATP is led by Managing Director Yung Fung, reporting to Ford Chief Manufacturing Officer Bryce Currie. This structure includes four vertical business units — focused on specific technology stacks — and four horizontals — shared services designed to ensure scale, deployment, and operational consistency.

As part of the AITP organisation, the Sight Vertical is responsible for building an end-to-end business around AI/ML anomaly detection products, operating as two product families.

Sight.Sense detects anomalies in parametric data: Sense.Machine (MiniTerms) for machine performance anomaly prediction and optimisation; Sense.Tooling (AI ToolSense) for tooling life optimisation; Sense.Energy for optimisation of supplies consumption; Sense.Stamping for stamping process anomaly prediction and surface splits; and Sense.MILO for in-process test quality anomaly detection.

Sight.Vision detects anomalies in image data: Vision.Scout for in-station visual error proofing across manual and automated processes; Vision.Surface for surface defect detection in components and vehicle bodies through the complete manufacturing process; and Vision.Station for manual process monitoring and anomaly detection covering productivity, quality and ergonomics.

The Sight Vertical product portfolio are set to converge on the Sight Anomaly Platform, which builds on Ford's Core Systems layer (Core OS, CoreDS, Core AI and CoreApps/FPS+). Together they form Ford's scalable platform to deliver, process quality assurance, and zero-downtime, zero-defect manufacturing.

The Sight Vertical operates through value-focused, cross-functional product teams across two product families: Sight.Sense and Sight.Vision, each led by a Head of Product Family. Product Managers lead the product problem, desired outcome and priority. Engineers and product designers work with them to discover and deliver effective solutions. Engineering Managers retain people, capacity, technical-system and engineering-health accountability.

This is a vertical-level role working across both product families. Priorities are agreed between the two Heads of Product and their Engineering Managers, so that your effort is directed by portfolio value. In addition, ATP Core provides the non-product engineering expertise the verticals depend on — enterprise standards, architecture, industrial controls, cybersecurity and platform guidance. This role holds a matrix reporting line into ATP Core to ensure alignment with those standards and ready access to that expertise.

The Sight product portfolio only creates value when it can be integrated into live manufacturing controls systems safely, to standard, and repeatably. Every Sense and Vision deployment touches PLCs, HMIs, plant-floor compute, industrial networks and the engineering standards that govern them.

We are looking for a Controls Engineer to be the Sight Vertical's industrial controls lead — defining how our products interface with Ford controls systems, ensuring every deployment complies with FAST, OMS, safety and OT cybersecurity requirements, and making global replication a matter of configuration rather than fresh controls engineering at each site.

The scope spans both product families and their very different controls demands: parametric acquisition from machines, tools, presses, test stands and energy meters for Sense; and triggered image capture, station interlocks and reject handling for Vision.Scout, Vision.Surface and Vision.Station.

This is a hands-on senior engineering role with a strong governance dimension. You will be in plants and in PLC code, and you will also own the standards, specifications and virtual commissioning practice that prevent the same problems recurring. You will work at the boundary between OT and IT, between product engineering and manufacturing engineering, and between what our products need and what the plant floor can safely support.

You will report into the Director of Sight, with a matrix reporting line into the ATP Core team. The Sight Vertical Director, in conjunction with the Head of Product Sense and Vision, directs what you work on and holds performance and development accountability; ATP Core provides technical alignment, enterprise standards and access to non-product expertise. 

You will partner closely with the ATP Core Industrial Controls team, GME, plant controls and maintenance teams, plant IT and OT cybersecurity, equipment OEMs, the Sight Software Architect and Data Engineer, the Product Launch and Deployment Engineers, and Engineering Managers and Product Managers across both product families.

This is a senior individual contributor position with indirect leadership expectations. You will set controls engineering standards for the vertical, coach others and represent Sight in technical governance forums.

You will work closely with vision and Sense Product Launch and Deployment Engineers defining the controls standards, interfaces and specifications product deployments implement, and provide senior controls expertise when a site or programme exceeds standard patterns.

Requires availability to travel internationally, including to plants, OEM sites and equipment run-off, as required.

Functional & Technical Knowledge

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Electronic, Controls, Automation or Mechatronics Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent demonstrable experience.
• Typically 8+ years of hands-on industrial controls engineering experience in manufacturing, including delivery on capital equipment programmes.
• Strong PLC programming and diagnostic capability across at least one major platform (Siemens TIA Portal/S7, Rockwell/Allen-Bradley Studio 5000, or equivalent), plus HMI and SCADA experience.
• Demonstrable hands-on experience integrating machine vision or camera-based inspection systems with controls — capture triggers, part-present and cycle signals, lighting control, reject handling and station interlocks.
• Solid grasp of industrial networking and protocols — Profinet, Ethernet/IP, OPC-UA, Modbus — and of plant network architecture.
• Hands-on experience moving plant-floor data into applications and platforms using MQTT and structured message formats such as JSON, including configuration of industrial middleware or integration tooling — for example DeviceWise, Node-RED, Ford crossPLC, HiveMQ or equivalent.
• Ability to read, review and approve electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic drawings and control panel designs.
• Practical experience of machine build, run-off, installation and commissioning, including issue resolution under launch pressure.
• Demonstrated experience applying, governing or authoring engineering standards and specifications, and handling deviation and waiver decisions.
• Working knowledge of OT cybersecurity requirements for plant-floor compute across both Windows and Linux-based systems — segregation, hardening, patching and access control. 
• Strong safety discipline on live manufacturing equipment, including lockout (ECPL), permits, risk assessment and machine safety requirements.
• Demonstrable experience mentoring engineers and influencing without authority across engineering, plant, IT and supplier stakeholders.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally to plants, OEMs and equipment run-off.
• Fluent professional English.

Preferred Requirements

• Master's degree in a controls, automation or systems engineering discipline.
• Familiarity with Ford controls standards and systems — FAST, OMS, MIDAS, OPIC, OneSpot, GPDS, QWX, WMA, QLS-CM, M/FIS.
• Experience of Virtual Commissioning tooling and practice.
• Experience deploying industrial PCs, DXD, edge compute and sensor instrumentation into live production environments.
• Experience integrating AI/ML, condition monitoring, gauging or quality systems with controls.
• Experience of energy monitoring and reduction initiatives on new and retool programmes.
• Additional European language (Spanish or German).

Success in Role

• A documented, standard controls interface exists for Sight products and is used across both Sense and Vision deployments.
• The volume of site-specific controls engineering and of deviation and waiver requests falls measurably over time.
• New and retooled equipment is specified so that Sight product capability is designed in, reducing retrofit cost and lead time.
• Virtual Commissioning is completed for Sight-related controls software ahead of physical commissioning.
• Cybersecurity compliance for all Sight plant-floor compute is evidenced and current, with no unresolved exceptions.
• Controls-related product launch and downtime issues are resolved quickly and permanently, with root causes eliminated at source.
• Controls obsolescence and lifecycle risk is visible, with credible migration plans in place.
• Launch and Deployment Engineers and software engineers demonstrably grow in controls capability; critical knowledge is not held by you alone.
• Ford standards, procedures and specifications you administer are current, proportionate and genuinely used.

What You'll Be Able to Do

Controls Standards and Technical Governance

• Support the ATP Core Industrial Controls team in the implementation of FAST and OMS standards for Sight-related programme engineering activity, and ensure alignment with the global Bill of Process (BOP) and Bill of Design (BOD).

• Own and administer the controls-related procedures and specifications applying to Sight products, keeping them current, proportionate and usable.

• Review programme deviations and waiver requests from OEMs and plants against FAST and OMS, and provide practical guidance towards compliant solutions.

• Represent the Sight Vertical on relevant subcommittees, and support global supplier follow-up, communication and feedback.

• Monitor the use of structured software specifications, and support GDME-led training for plant teams and OEMs so code is consistent and maintainable.

Controls Integration for Sight Products

• Define the standard controls interface patterns by which Sense and Vision products acquire data and return outputs — tag and data-array structures, handshakes, event and polled acquisition, image capture triggers, part-present and cycle signals, reject handling and interlocks, and HMI interaction.

• Specify controls and instrumentation requirements for new and retooled equipment so that monitoring and inspection capability is designed in at source rather than retrofitted, working with programme teams and OEMs — including camera mounting provision, lighting supply and network drops for Vision products.

• Provide senior controls expertise to complex or first-of-type deployments, including legacy equipment with limited instrumentation, no camera provision or constrained networks.

• Conduct programme approvals and detailed review of electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic drawings, and participate in equipment PROTAG reviews, follow-ups and sign-off.

• Lead controls issue resolution during product, installation and commissioning, and support fresh-eyes reviews on other programmes.

Virtual Commissioning and Digital Infrastructure

• Lead and support Virtual Commissioning of controls software for Sight-related systems with GME and OEMs, validating logic virtually to protect timing.

• Enable the plant-floor data flows Sight products depend on — MES and IIoT interfaces such as FIS, QWX, WMA, QTS/QLS-CM and equivalent systems — including the middleware and message layer that carries data from controls to platform, using MQTT, structured payloads such as JSON, and tooling including DeviceWise, Node-RED, Ford’s crossPLC and HiveMQ. 

• Identify power drop and electrical infrastructure requirements for Sight hardware with facilities teams, ensuring correct sizing and connection provision.

OT Cybersecurity and Plant-Floor Compute

• Support and evidence cybersecurity compliance for CPN, MPN and non-OA plant-floor PCs used by Sight products, including industrial PCs, DXD, edge compute and GPU inference nodes.

• Implement and govern OT security protocols across both Windows and Linux-based plant-floor systems — hardening, patching, network segregation, remote access and identity — protecting manufacturing assets while keeping products operable.

• Act as the primary technical liaison with IT to resolve interface issues and ensure reliable connectivity between shop-floor hardware and enterprise systems.

• Coordinate and communicate cybersecurity updates and issues affecting Sight deployments, and make compliance status visible.

Lifecycle, Obsolescence and Industrialisation

• Support the global controls obsolescence effort, maintaining a structured migration path for legacy automation and plant-floor compute hardware that Sight products depend on.

• Reduce controls engineering effort per deployment by developing reusable standard programmes, function blocks, configuration templates and acceptance criteria.

• Support product strategies and specifications, and provide cost inputs into product P&Ls where controls scope is required.

• Support plants with troubleshooting and resolution of production-related downtime associated with Sight products — PLC programmes, HMI screens, network and device faults.

Knowledge, Mentorship and Enablement

• Coach the Product Launch and Deployment Engineer and software engineers in controls fundamentals, plant realities and safe working practice.

• Build and share reusable technical guidance — standards, Single Point Lessons, reference programmes and commissioning checklists.

• Actively reduce single-person dependency, ensuring controls knowledge critical to Sight products is documented and held by more than one person.

• Bring plant and controls reality into product discovery and architecture decisions early, so designs are deployable before they are committed.