Director, Enterprise Architect – Enterprise API, AI Security & Governance, Engineering Excellence

Chennai, IndiaFull-timePosted Jul 24, 2026

Position Overview

We are seeking a Director-level Enterprise Architect to lead identity, API, and AI security governance across the global enterprise, operating at the intersection of cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure & platforms, and emerging AI technologies.

This role is chartered with establishing governance frameworks for MCP, APIs, Agents, and Skills, while partnering closely with platform, infrastructure, and data/AI teams to shape the future of secure, scalable AI adoption across Ford.

The ideal candidate combines deep hands-on technical credibility across cloud, AI, and security domains with the leadership maturity to build and grow a large, cross-functional team of polyglot architects from the ground up, in a greenfield security architecture practice.

Key Responsibilities

API Security Architecture

Design and govern secure architecture patterns for Ford's high-traffic, business-critical APIs, embedding security and governance directly into the API lifecycle.
Partner with platform engineering to strengthen authentication, authorization, and threat protection across the API gateway ecosystem.
Champion a shift-left approach to API security and compliance by embedding automated checks directly into the build phase, catching issues early in the development lifecycle. Familiarity with security tooling such as FOSSA, Cycode, 42Crunch, Cloud Armor, PRISMA is a strong plus.
Familiarity with open-source tools, applying buy vs build diligently and make decisions.
Building engineering prototypes which is kind of R&D (POC, Reference architecture), pre- implementation prototypes which are building blocks which perform in pre-production with minor tweaks.

Identity & Access Architecture

Architect a unified, vendor-agnostic identity fabric across Ford's global enterprise, resolving the complexity of a multi-IdP environment while eliminating vendor lock-in.
Define modern application authorization patterns — including OAuth On-Behalf-Of (OBO) flows and delegated access models — that scale securely across applications, APIs, and AI agents.
Establish governance standards spanning workforce, customer, and machine/non-human identities.

AI & Agent Security Governance

Define and enforce enterprise-wide governance frameworks for MCP, APIs, Agents, and Skills.
Partner with the Platform team (EPEO) to evaluate and govern the enterprise, AI Gateway.
Maintain deep, current knowledge of the agent-building ecosystem — low-code/no-code and pro-code options using Microsoft and Gemini Enterprise, plus hands-on expertise in the Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) — to guide secure, scalable agent adoption.
Collaborate with GDAI and data/AI teams to keep governance aligned with the pace of enterprise AI innovation.

Engineering Excellence – Patterns & Reference Architecture

Design and publish reusable patterns and reference architectures for AI solutions, giving teams across Ford consistent, secure building blocks rather than ad-hoc implementations.
Build starter apps/templates for the Google ADK, providing pro-code agent developers a secure, governed foundation to build from.
Define reference implementations mapping OAuth OBO flows with Microsoft Agent ID, ensuring agents securely act on behalf of users with proper identity context and audit trails.
Continuously evolve these patterns as Microsoft, Google, and other providers update their agent identity and authorization models.
Ensure starter kits and patterns are pre-approved, governance-compliant building blocks reducing time-to-production for new AI use cases.

Cloud & Infrastructure Architecture

Lead strategy for multi-cloud interoperability, ensuring consistent, portable security architecture across cloud providers.
Maintain a strong command of GCP architecture — scalability, resiliency, and cost/FinOps — to guide sound, cost-conscious infrastructure decisions. Partnering with FinOps EPEO team for the cost of architecture.
Partner with cybersecurity and EPEO infrastructure teams to ensure governance controls are technically enforceable across tooling and platforms.
Architect security solutions that directly protect and enable Ford's core business platforms — eCommerce, Ford Credit (global banking and financial services), and global retail/commercial fleet customer platforms.
Balance security rigor with speed-to-market for digital initiatives.

Applied AI & Insights

Apply predictive AI models to real enterprise use cases, delivering actionable insights that inform security, architecture, and business strategy.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Partner closely with cybersecurity, platform (EPEO), infrastructure, and data/AI (GDAI) teams to align governance and reference architectures with evolving platform capabilities and enterprise roadmaps.
Serve as a key architectural liaison between security, engineering, and business stakeholders.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

Lead, mentor, and grow a cross-functional team of 20+ polyglot architects (Java, UI, AI, Python, GCP).
Build a culture of Engineering Excellence — driving technical rigor, continuous learning, and cross-skilling.
Set team goals and objectives , priorities, and development paths aligned with enterprise architecture measure success by defining OKRs and KPIs.

Strategic Technical Leadership

Serve as a Director-level technical authority on identity, API, and AI security governance, representing Enterprise Architecture in senior technical and business forums.
Proactively shape Ford's approach to secure, scalable AI adoption — anticipating emerging risks and technologies ahead of business impact.

Required Qualifications

15+ years of progressive experience in enterprise architecture, cybersecurity architecture, or platform engineering, including significant time in identity & access management (IAM) and API security architecture.
Proven, hands-on experience architecting multi-IdP identity environments, with deep knowledge of protocols such as OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML — including practical implementation of OBO (On-Behalf-Of) flows and delegated authorization patterns.
Demonstrated experience with API gateway architecture, threat protection, and API lifecycle governance at enterprise scale.
Practical, current knowledge of AI agent frameworks and ecosystems — Microsoft Copilot Studio/Agent frameworks, Gemini Enterprise, and the Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) — including building or evaluating low-code/no-code vs. pro-code agent solutions.
Working understanding of Model Context Protocol (MCP) and emerging standards for AI agent governance and interoperability.
Strong hands-on expertise in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) architecture, including scalability, resiliency patterns, and cost/FinOps optimization.
Experience applying predictive AI/ML models to business use cases, with the ability to translate technical outcomes into business insight.
Proven track record leading and developing large, technically diverse teams (20+), ideally across Java, Python, UI, AI, and cloud disciplines.
Excellent stakeholder management and executive communication skills — able to represent technical strategy to senior business and technology leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

Multi-cloud architecture experience (GCP plus AWS/Azure), particularly around interoperability and portability of security controls.
Champion a shift-left approach to API security and compliance by embedding automated checks directly into the build phase, catching issues early in the development lifecycle; familiarity with security tooling such as FOSSA, Cycode, 42Crunch, and PRISMA is a strong plus.
Prior experience in the automotive, manufacturing, or large-scale digital/eCommerce enterprise environment.
Relevant certifications such as Google Professional Cloud Architect or any security/architecture certifications are a plus.
Experience contributing to or leading greenfield architecture practices — building governance frameworks, standards, and teams from the ground up rather than inheriting mature processes.
Exposure to regulated industries (financial services, banking/fintech) given the role's proximity to Ford Credit's global banking and financial platforms.
Familiarity with DevSecOps pipelines and CI/CD integration, enabling security and compliance controls to be enforced as code rather than manual gates.
Understanding AI/ML model risk and governance frameworks, complementing the role's focus on predictive AI and agent governance.

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology or related field required.