Optimization Algorithms Jobs in Waterford, MI (NOW HIRING)

We made history and now we work to transform the future - for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.
In this position...
We are seeking a visionary and experienced Senior Manager to lead the strategic development, deployment, and continuous enhancement of cutting-edge AI/ML solutions for Yield Management. In this pivotal role, you will lead a high-performing team to transform business processes through predictive demand forecasting, dynamic segmentation, sensitivity analysis, and optimization algorithms. The ideal candidate blends deep technical expertise in AI/ML engineering with a proven track record of delivering end-to-end production-grade AI solutions that drive measurable business impact.
Responsibilities
What you'll do...
Strategic AI/ML Leadership & Delivery
End-to-End Lifecycle Management: Lead the design, validation, deployment, and monitoring of production-grade AI/ML solutions (e.g., predictive modeling, forecasting, optimization, and segmentation).
Demand Sensing & S&OP: Lead the development, maintenance, and optimization of advanced demand sensing algorithms to support sales and operations planning (S&OP) and yield management.
Roadmap & Innovation: Drive the strategic AI/ML roadmap, identifying innovative use cases-including Agentic AI for workflow automation-to deliver significant business value.
Rapid Prototyping: Foster a culture of rapid prototyping and rigorous testing to quickly validate the business utility of new AI/ML applications.
Technology Strategy & MLOps Excellence
Tech Stack Evolution: Evaluate and adopt emerging AI/ML platforms, frameworks, and methodologies to enhance solution efficiency, scalability, and performance.
MLOps & Governance: Establish and enforce robust MLOps practices, model governance, version control, and comprehensive documentation to ensure seamless deployment and retraining.
Responsible AI: Champion ethical AI principles, ensuring fairness, transparency, and data privacy are embedded across the model lifecycle.
Data Quality: Oversee data management practices (sourcing, cleaning, preprocessing) to ensure high-quality data pipelines for all AI/ML models.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement
Strategic Alignment: Act as the primary liaison between technical teams and business stakeholders (Sales & Marketing, Finance, IT) to align AI/ML initiatives with corporate strategy.
Executive Communication: Translate complex algorithmic concepts and technical outcomes into clear, actionable insights and recommendations for executive leadership.
People Leadership: Guide and mentor data scientists and AI/ML engineers in technical execution, professional growth, and stakeholder management.
Qualifications
You'll have...
Master's in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Statistics, or a closely related quantitative field.
10+ years of progressive experience in AI/ML engineering or data science, with 3-5 years of experience directly leading and managing technical teams.
Proven experience building and deploying production-grade predictive models, time-series forecasting, and optimization algorithms.
Hands-on experience building and deploying Agentic AI solutions for complex workflow automation.
Advanced proficiency in Python and core ML libraries (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn). Strong command of SQL.
Proven experience deploying and managing AI/ML workloads on cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) using MLOps tools.
Experience developing user-facing applications or dashboards (e.g., Streamlit, Dash, Flask/Django) for model consumption.
Even better, you may have...
Ph.D. in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Statistics, or a closely related quantitative field.
Prior management consulting experience and/or extensive experience collaborating with third-party consulting teams to deliver strategic projects.
Direct experience in Yield Management, Revenue Management, Supply Chain, or S&OP within the automotive, manufacturing, or related industries.
Familiarity with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and distributed computing frameworks (Spark) for large-scale data and model training
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 leadership level 5 and ranges from $141,700-$268,300.
Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.
For more information on salary and benefits, click here: https://fordcareers.co/LL5
Visa sponsorship is not 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.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.
This position is hybrid. 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
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