Director of Architecture: Billing, Payments, and Subscriptions

The Ford Motor Credit Company team helps put people behind the wheels of great Ford and Lincoln vehicles. By partnering with dealerships, we provide financing, personalized service and professional expertise to thousands of dealers and millions of customers in over one hundred countries around the world.

In this position…

The Director of Architecture: Billing, Payments, and Subscriptions is a leadership role responsible for defining and driving the architectural vision, strategy, and execution for all billing, payment, and subscription management systems within the organization. This role requires a deep understanding of various billing models (including subscription-based), payment processing, financial systems integration, subscription lifecycle management, and relevant regulatory requirements. You will lead a team of architects and work closely with engineering, product, finance, and operations teams to ensure that our billing, payment, and subscription platforms are scalable, secure, reliable, and aligned with business objectives, particularly driving recurring revenue growth and customer retention.

What you'll do…

Architectural Vision and Strategy:

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive architectural roadmap for billing, payment, and subscription systems, aligned with the company's overall technology strategy and business goals. This includes strategies for handling different subscription tiers, pricing models, and promotional offers.
• Identify and evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends in billing, payments, and subscription management, and recommend adoption strategies where appropriate. This includes evaluating platforms that offer flexible subscription management capabilities.
• Define architectural principles, standards, and patterns to ensure consistency, maintainability, and scalability across all billing, payment, and subscription systems.

Solution Design and Implementation:

• Lead the design and architecture of complex billing, payment, and subscription solutions, ensuring they meet functional, performance, security, and scalability requirements. This includes designing systems that handle trial periods, upgrades/downgrades, cancellations, and renewals seamlessly.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to architecture and engineering teams throughout the software development lifecycle, with a particular focus on subscription-related features.
• Review and approve architectural designs, ensuring adherence to standards and best practices, especially regarding subscription lifecycle management.
• Oversee the implementation of new billing, payment, and subscription platforms, integrations, and enhancements.

Subscription Lifecycle Management:

• Architect solutions to effectively manage the entire subscription lifecycle, from initial signup to renewal and cancellation.
• Design systems to handle complex subscription scenarios, such as proration, recurring billing failures, and account holds.
• Implement strategies for reducing churn and improving customer retention through optimized subscription management processes.
• Work with product and marketing teams to define and implement subscription pricing and packaging strategies.

Team Leadership and Management:

• Build, mentor, and manage a team of architects, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning, especially in the realm of subscription best practices.
• Set clear goals and expectations for the architecture team, and provide regular feedback and performance evaluations.
• Promote knowledge sharing and collaboration within the architecture team and across other engineering teams, particularly regarding subscription-related challenges and solutions.

Stakeholder Management and Collaboration:

• Collaborate closely with product managers, marketing, sales, engineering leaders, finance, and operations teams to understand business requirements and translate them into technical solutions. This is especially critical for aligning subscription offerings with customer needs and market demands.
• Communicate architectural vision, strategy, and designs to stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Participate in cross-functional planning and prioritization activities to ensure alignment on technology initiatives, with a focus on subscription-related projects.

Compliance and Security:

• Ensure that all billing, payment, and subscription systems comply with relevant industry regulations and security standards (e.g., PCI DSS, GDPR, CCPA).
• Work closely with security teams to identify and mitigate potential