Job Information
Ford Motor Company Systems Design Analyst-Vehicle Software Updates in Ottawa, Ontario
At Ford Motor Company, we believe freedom of movement drives human progress. With our exciting plans for the future of mobility, we have a wide variety of opportunities for you to accelerate your career potential as you help us define tomorrow’s transportation.
Better vehicle solutions demand greater insight, imagination, and creativity. That’s where Ford Smart Mobility comes in. We are investing in emerging technologies and agile businesses to advance innovations in micro-transit, commercial solutions for fleet customers, and enhanced vehicle ownership experiences. We are developing Ford’s Development Operations (DevOps) pipeline to facilitate rapid software transitions and enable seamless update experiences via both Over-The-Air (OTA) and Service/Dealership channels.
Do you want to drive business strategy and define products for software and digital experiences? Ford’s DevSecOps team is a fast-paced group that translates strategic choices into tangible business propositions. We represent the voice of the customer—and the service technician—as we build distinctive, always-on connected vehicle technologies that transform the ownership and service experience.
What you'll do...
The primary responsibilities for this position include but are not limited to:
As a Systems Design Analyst - Vehicle Software Updates you will work with a team determined to deliver a robust and reliable software update solution. You will be responsible for the end-to-end product ownership of software delivery mechanisms, ensuring that whether a customer updates their vehicle in their driveway (OTA) or a technician updates it at a dealership (Service), the process is consistent, fast, and successful.
You will collaborate with a diverse and global cross-functional team, including:
Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Development & Platform Teams
Cloud OTA & Service Deployment Systems
Service Engineering & Technician Tooling
Software Release and Operations Systems
Feature teams dependent on the OTA/Service solution
Your key roles:
System Design & Architecture: Design Ford’s next-generation software update solutions for both OTA and Factory/Service environments. Define data flows between Cloud, Service Tools, and Vehicle systems.
Requirements Engineering: Author, update, and distribute system requirements and specifications using JAMA . Translate high-level business requirements into system-level technical requirements (functional and non-functional) for cascade to embedded and cloud software development communities.
Product Ownership: Maintain end-to-end product ownership, overseeing the feature from initial strategy and concept through development, bring-up testing, launch, and post-launch support.
Risk Management: Lead and participate in DFMEA (Design Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) to identify potential failure points in the update process and engineer robust mitigations.
Issue Resolution & Triage: Coordinate between cross-functional teams to triage, diagnose, and resolve complex issues found during pre-release testing. Perform deep-dive log analysis on system logs to identify root causes.
Tool Development: Develop scripts/automation tools to assist in log parsing, metric collection, or test automation to accelerate the triage process.
Testing Oversight: Author and review system test cases. Participate in "bring-up" testing activities for new software update capabilities to ensure the pipeline is functional before mass deployment.
Documentation & Training: Educate stakeholders on software update behaviors. Create clear documentation for expected system behaviors under various edge cases (through JAMA requirements, specification documents and/or PlantUML/MBSE diagramming tools)
You'll have...
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering or a related discipline (Successful candidates will be required to provide proof of degree completion for the highest level of education attained. If the degree was obtained from a school outside of Canada, an Education Credential Assessment report showing Canadian equivalency is also required. )
Experience
Minimum 3 years of experience as a Systems Engineer or Systems Architect, specifically dealing with embedded software, distributed systems, or vehicle architectures.
1 year of proven ability to translate high-level business needs into rigorous system-level technical requirements (e.g., using tools like JAMA) for cascade to both Embedded and Cloud software development communities.
Minimum 1 year of experience acting as a Team Lead or Technical Anchor role.
Minimum 3 years of experience driving deliverables across diverse cross-functional teams in a collaborative, agile environment.
Even better, you may have...
Education
- Masters degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering or a related discipline ( (Successful candidates will be required to provide proof of degree completion for the highest level of education attained. If the degree was obtained from a school outside of Canada, an Education Credential Assessment report showing Canadian equivalency is also required. )
Experience
Familiarity with vehicle network architectures (CAN, Automotive Ethernet) and diagnostic protocols.
Effective analytical problem-solving skills, including the ability to run complex data queries, parse logs, and use Python (or similar scripting languages) for deep-dive triage. Familiarity with API testing to validate system integrations.
Exceptional ability to communicate clearly across all levels, breaking down technical needs and system designs for developers and architects, and abstracting high-level concepts for TPMs, system owners, senior management, and executives.
Familiarity with Embedded Software Integration Testing & Feature Bring-up Testing and triage.
Extreme attention to detail at the micro-level (e.g., bits and bytes of vehicle networks), combined with the ability to think strategically about high-level, cloud-to-edge system architecture.
Experience with Over-The-Air (OTA) software updates, Unified Diagnostic Services (UDS / ISO 14229), OEM Service tools, and leading DFMEAs.
Experience leveraging tools like Splunk, Grafana, or GCP Looker Studio to track system telemetry, monitor update success rates, and build executive-facing dashboards.
Experience working in the Automotive, Defense, or Aerospace Industry.
This posting is for an existing vacancy within our team.
The expected annual salary range for this position is $85,000.00 - $135,000.00 and individuals may be eligible to participate in our Annual Compensation bonus program.
Our focus is to build the best team. If you think you can bring value to Ford, love to collaborate, prioritize and aim to deliver excellence in everything you do, we encourage you to apply!
Successful candidates will be required to provide proof of degree completion for the highest level of education attained. If the degree was obtained from a school outside of Canada, an Education Credential Assessment report showing Canadian equivalency is also required.
We thank all candidates for their interest, but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
Ford of Canada is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to a culturally diverse workforce. Accommodations for applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment, selection and/or assessment processes, where needed, are available upon request. Please inform Human Resources of the nature of any accommodation(s) that you may require.
Candidates for this position must be legally entitled to work in Canada. Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited, does not sponsor work permit applications.
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Requisition ID : 59763