PLM Engineering Manager

Ford Motor Company

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Job Type: Full time Work Type: Hybrid

We are seeking an experienced PLM Engineering Manager to lead 3DEXPERIENCE customization, development, and high level escalation support. This pivotal leadership role will guide a team of 3DX developers, platform engineers, and release engineers. It will also connect Ford's business and engineering stakeholders with the hosting and infrastructure teams and with Dassault Systèmes.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on technical leader who understands the full 3DX architecture, from 3DPassport and 3DSpace through 3DSearch and FCS down to the database. You are equally comfortable reviewing a developer's trigger logic, analyzing a JVM thread dump during an outage, pushing a Dassault Systèmes Service Request up to R&D, and explaining the root cause to senior leadership in plain business terms. You set the engineering standards that keep Ford's heavily customized platform stable and upgrade-ready. A natural collaborator, you build trust across development, hosting, and business teams, and you thrive in a fast-paced environment where both delivery and accountability matter. This role is a people leader position but also highly technical.

Platform Customization & Development

• Customization Ownership: Lead the design, development, and delivery of all 3DX customizations, including data model extensions (type and attribute specialization, Unified Typing, policies, lifecycles), triggers, JPOs, MQL/TCL scripts, and EKL logic, using Dassault-supported methods.
• UI & Widget Development: Guide the development of 3DDashboard widgets (JavaScript/UWA), web forms, tables, commands, and menus that improve the engineering user experience.
• Integrations & Web Services: Own the technical design and support of integrations between 3DX and Ford enterprise systems, using 3DSpace REST APIs, custom web services, and middleware.
• Security Model: Oversee People & Organization (P&O) configuration, including collaborative spaces, organizations, roles, security contexts, and access rules.
• Engineering Standards: Define and enforce coding standards, code review practices, and source control for all 3DX development, so customizations stay upgrade-safe and technical debt stays low.
• Requirements Intake: Partner with engineering, manufacturing, and program teams to turn business requirements into sound technical designs. Advise on "out-of-the-box vs. customize" decisions.

Level 3 Escalation & Incident Resolution

• Final Escalation Point: Serve as the highest internal escalation point for critical (P1/P2) and complex incidents across the 3DX suite, including 3DSpace, 3DPassport, 3DDashboard, 3DSearch/3DIndex, FCS, 3DSwym, and native app (CATIA/DELMIA) platform interactions.
• Root Cause Analysis: Lead deep diagnostics using application logs, MQL traces, JVM thread and heap dumps, database query analysis, and HTTP/network tracing to find the true root cause of failures across components.
• Vendor Escalation: Own the relationship with Dassault Systèmes Support and R&D. Drive Service Requests to resolution, make sure reproducible test cases are provided, and validate the hotfixes Dassault delivers.
• Incident Leadership: Serve as technical lead on incident bridges during 3DX platform outages. Coordinate rapid response across hosting, development, and supplier teams, and give clear, timely status to business stakeholders.
• Problem Management: Own root cause reports and problem records, and drive permanent corrective actions so the same issues do not come back.
• Shift-Left Enablement: Turn recurring L3 issues into knowledge articles, runbooks, and automated fixes so L1/L2 can resolve more issues and fewer reach L3.

Platform Stability & Lifecycle Management

• Performance Optimization: Oversee platform performance tuning across JVM/TomEE configuration, database (Oracle/SQL Server), indexing, caching, and FCS file throughput.
• Upgrade Readiness: Own the technical impact analysis of customizations for full upgrades, Functional Deliveries (FDs), and hotfixes. Lead regression testing and support cutover execution.
• Change Management: Make sure all customizations and platform changes follow ITIL-aligned change management processes, are properly documented, and carry appropriate approvals before promotion through Dev, Test, QA, and Prod.
• Automation: Drive the adoption of automation for deployments, bulk data operations, and platform health checks, fitting into the team's Ansible and CI/CD pipelines.

Capacity Planning & Team Leadership

• People Leadership: Lead, mentor, and develop a team of 3DX developers and escalation engineers, including hiring, performance management, and technical career growth.
• Resource Management: Lead capacity planning efforts, using Jira to track team bandwidth, forecast constraints, and assign resources against business priorities and escalation demand.
• Knowledge Transfer: Build technical depth across the L1/L2 support organization through training, code reviews, and hands-on troubleshooting coaching.
• Audit Support: Provide technical leadership and evidence for IT audits, ensuring 3DX customizations and changes comply with GRC, IFAR, and ASAR requirements.

Required Experience:

• 8+ years of experience with Dassault Systèmes ENOVIA / 3DEXPERIENCE, including platform customization, development, and administration
• 5+ years in software development, software engineering, and scripting with 3DX customizations including EKL, JPO, JAR, YAML, & supporting automation/pipelines.
• 3+ years in a Level 3, escalation, or production support role for enterprise Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems
• 3+ years leading or managing technical teams in an enterprise environment
• Proven experience managing vendor support escalations with Dassault Systèmes or comparable enterprise software vendors
• Experience working in a fast-paced, flexible industrial systems team like Ford Motor Company
• Expert-level experience using large language models and artificial intelligence

Technical Skills:

• 3DX Customization: Expert-level knowledge of MQL, TCL, JPO/Java, triggers, and EKL, with a strong understanding of the 3DX data model (types, relationships, policies, P&O security) and Unified Typing.
• DevOps Tooling: Familiarity with Git/GitHub, CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, Tekton, GitHub Actions), and Infrastructure-as-Code (Ansible/Terraform).
• Scripting Knowledge: Proficiency in scripting languages (Python, PowerShell, Bash) for automation tasks.
• Web & Integration Development: Proficiency in JavaScript, 3DDashboard widget (UWA) development, and REST API/web service integration.
• Platform Architecture: Deep knowledge of 3DX components (3DSpace, 3DPassport, 3DDashboard, 3DSearch/Exalead, FCS) and how they interact.
• Diagnostics: Advanced skills in log analysis, JVM thread and heap dump analysis, and SQL performance analysis (Oracle and/or SQL Server).
• Infrastructure Proficiency: Strong understanding of server operations (Linux/Windows), OS patching cycles, and network security (SSL/Firewalls).
• Project Management Tools: Expert-level proficiency in Jira for backlog management, capacity planning, and reporting. Working knowledge of ServiceNow for incident, problem, and change management.
• Preferred: CAA (C++/Java) development, SSO/SAML identity integration, and knowledge of automotive product development processes (BOM, engineering change, variant/configuration management).

Leadership Skills:

• Technical Leadership: Proven ability to set engineering standards, guide design decisions, and raise the technical capability of a development and support team.
• Strategic Communication: Proven ability to translate technical root causes and constraints into business impacts for senior leadership.
• Process Rigor: Deep understanding of ITIL incident, problem, and change management principles and audit compliance (GRC/SOX).
• Problem Solving: Excellent troubleshooting skills with a focus on root cause analysis and preventative measures.
• Composure Under Pressure: Demonstrated ability to lead calmly and decisively during production outages and high-visibility escalations.
• Collaboration: Demonstrated success building relationships across Development, Infrastructure, Hosting, Business, and vendor teams to deliver under aggressive timelines.

Licenses and Certifications:

• Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Certification (Preferred)
• ITIL Certification (Preferred)
• SAFe / Agile Certification (Preferred)

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 c