Atlassian Technical Strategy Director

at Ford Motor Company in Springfield, Illinois, United States

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced, strategic thinker and technically proficient Director of Atlassian Products to lead the setup, management, and optimization of our Atlassian suite. This role will ensure that our Atlassian tools, including Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management, and others, are implemented correctly from the start and continuously improved to meet the evolving needs of our entire organization. Currently, at Ford, one of key business area is leveraging Atlassian products extensively and we are looking to extend that usage across the company (IT as well as Non-IT). Additionally, this role will be responsible for setting up a 24×7 global support organization, establishing a ‘Hub and Spoke’ model, and leading Hub activities.

Strategic Planning:

+ Develop and execute a comprehensive strategy for the deployment and management of Atlassian products across all business units.

+ Align Atlassian product strategy with the company’s overall business goals and digital transformation initiatives.

+ Advocate for the adoption of Atlassian tools as a central part of the organization’s collaboration and productivity strategy.

+ Champion and make ‘System of work’ vision reality across Ford Motor Company – IT as well as various non-IT Ford employees (e.g. Manufacturing, product development engineers, Marketing/Sales, finance/credit/purchasing/HR staff)

Setup and Implementation:

+ Lead the initial setup, configuration, and customization of Atlassian tools, ensuring best practices and security standards are followed.

+ Design and implement complex workflows, custom fields, dashboards, and automation rules tailored to the needs of various departments, including EVDD (Electric Vehicles/software), FordPro (Commerial vehicles/services), HR, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Purchasing, Credit, FordDirect, IT Operations etc

+ Oversee Cloud migration for Confluence (Ford is already using SaaS for rest of Atlassian products) and ensure seamless transition to Atlassian products with minimal disruption.

Technical Management and Optimization:

+ Lead the team who will continuously monitor and optimize the performance, scalability, and reliability of Atlassian tools.

+ Manage Atlassian product instances, including upgrades, patches, and maintenance tasks.

+ Implement and enforce governance policies, standards, and procedures for the use of Atlassian products, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

+ Develop and maintain integrations between Atlassian products and other enterprise systems such as CRM, ERP, and communication tools.

+ Utilize scripting languages (e.g., Groovy, Python, JavaScript) and Atlassian APIs to automate tasks and enhance tool functionality.

+ Configure and manage Atlassian plugins and marketplace add-ons to extend product capabilities.

+ Perform regular audits of Atlassian environments to ensure data integrity, security, and compliance.

+ Utilize Atlassian Access and other security tools to manage user access, and compliance.

Collaboration and Communication:

+ Work closely with cross-functional teams, including IT, product development, project management, HR, Marketing, Sales, and Operations, to understand their requirements and provide tailored solutions.

+ Serve as the primary point of contact for all Atlassian-related inquiries and issues, providing expert guidance and support.

+ Facilitate workshops, training sessions, and user group meetings to promote best practices and drive tool adoption.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement:

+ Connect with other Fortune 500 companies and learn from their best practices and practical implementations

+ Stay updated on the latest Atlassian product updates, features, plugins, and best practices.

+ Propose and implement continuous improvements to existing workflows, processes, and tool configurations.

+ Lead efforts in automating repetitive tasks and improving efficiency using Atlassian tools and third-party plugins.

Global Support Organization:

+ Set up and manage a 24×7 global support organization to ensure round-the-clock availability and support for Atlassian products.

+ Establish and maintain a ‘Hub and Spoke’ support model, with the Hub serving as the central point of expertise and coordination.

+ Lead Hub activities, including incident management, problem resolution, and escalation processes.

+ Coordinate with regional Spoke teams to ensure consistent support quality and knowledge sharing.

Team Leadership:

+ Build and manage a team of Atlassian administrators, developers, support specialists, and collaborate with various Ford Spoke teams.

+ Provide mentorship, training, and professional development opportunities for team members.

+ Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the team.

+ 8+ years of progressive hands-on experience with Atlassian products, including Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management, and others.

+ Proven track record of successfully setting up, customizing, and managing Atlassian tools in a large organization (Preferably in one of Fortune 500 companies with at least 20-30K users)

+ Experience in Portfolio/project management, software development, or IT operations.

+ Demonstrated experience in driving adoption of collaboration tools across multiple business units.

+ Experience in setting up and managing a global support organization, including 24×7 operations and Hub and Spoke models.

+ Experience in ITIL processes/frameworks

Technical Skills:

+ Deep understanding of Atlassian product suite and its applications, including:

+ Jira: Advanced workflow configurations, custom fields, dashboards, filters, and boards.

+ Confluence: Space management, templates, macros, and content organization.

+ Jira Service Management: Advanced automation rules, SLA management, incident and problem management, change management workflows, and integration with Confluence for knowledge management.

+ Proficiency in scripting languages (e.g., Python, JavaScript, Groovy) and Atlassian APIs for automation and integration.

+ Experience with Atlassian plugins and marketplace add-ons, including:

+ ScriptRunner: For advanced customizations and automation.

+ Portfolio for Jira: For agile project planning.

+ Jira Service Management: Mainly for Business support functionalities.

+ Advanced Roadmaps: For project and resource planning.

+ Must have familiarity with Atlassian SaaS suite of products (Not just data center centric) and high availability configurations.

+ Understanding of security and compliance tools such as Atlassian Access for user management and SSO integration.

+ Strong portfolio, project management and organizational skills.

+ Excellent problem-solving and analytical abilities.

Strategic and Interpersonal Skills:

+ Effective communication and interpersonal skills to engage and influence stakeholders at all levels.

+ Ability to lead cross-functional teams and drive collaboration across departments.

+ Strong strategic thinking and vision to align Atlassian tools with business objectives.

Preferred Certifications:

+ Atlassian Certified Jira Administrator

+ Atlassian Certified Confluence Administrator

+ Atlassian Certified in Agile Development with Jira Software

+ Atlassian Certified in Jira Service Management

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 cult