Manager Hybrid Infrastructure & Hosting, Ford Energy

Ford Ford · Auto · Glendale, KY +1 · Enterprise Technology

Manager of Hybrid Infrastructure & Hosting for a new Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) manufacturing facility, responsible for architecting and operating computer platforms that balance high-performance local edge computing with enterprise-scale Google Cloud Platform (GCP) environments. The role involves managing cloud governance, cost optimization, security, on-premises physical hosting, edge compute solutions, virtualization, business continuity, monitoring, storage management, and project/vendor leadership during plant construction and go-live phases.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead the design and setup of the plant’s local data center/server rooms, including rack layouts, power requirements, and cooling coordination.
  2. Implement high-availability edge compute solutions to support real-time manufacturing data and low-latency production requirements.
  3. Design, deploy, and manage Ford Energy’s cloud environments.
  4. Develop and test comprehensive backup and disaster recovery strategies that span both physical hardware and cloud workloads.
  5. Implement advanced monitoring tools to ensure 24/7 visibility into system health.

Skills

Required

  • Bachelor Degree or relevant work experience
  • 5+ years of hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
  • 8+ years in IT infrastructure with at least 3 years in a leadership or lead engineering role
  • Proven experience managing "hybrid" environments where cloud and physical hardware must work in sync
  • Deep understanding of server hardware, enterprise storage, and data center physical infrastructure
  • Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools to automate environment deployment

Nice to have

  • Professional Cloud Architect or Cloud Engineer certification
  • Experience supporting a 24/7 production environment where system uptime directly impacts manufacturing throughput
  • Strong knowledge of Kubernetes and Docker, particularly in a manufacturing or IIoT context
  • Ability to troubleshoot complex issues across the full stack (from a physical cable to a cloud API)
  • Ability to work closely with the Network and Security teams

What the JD emphasized

  • high-performance local edge computing
  • enterprise-scale Google Cloud Platform
  • real-time manufacturing data
  • low-latency production requirements
  • hybrid environments where cloud and physical hardware must work in sync