This role be an integral component in the European Data Protection team on behalf of our businesses, including Retail, Pro and Ford Credit Europe. The successful individual will be an integral part of our community of leaders helping us to deliver innovation at speed while also raising the bar on customer privacy. This role will play a key part in bringing to fruition Ford’s brand value of data transparency and trust. This role reports into the Group Data Protection Office for Ford of Europe and Ford Credit and will work with all key Privacy stakeholders including regional legal teams, global and regional Office of General Counsel to ensure our businesses react to and stay ahead of change in the data privacy space. This role is based either out of our UK office in Dunton, Essex or office in Cologne, Germany; We offer and support flexible hybrid working at Ford, so you can work from home 2-3 days a week. 

Unique skills you will bring to the position: 

Proven hands-on experience in Data Privacy with demonstrated knowledge of privacy requirements in major areas such as GDPR, PECR, the EU Data Act, the A.I. Act. Experience specifically required in Connected Vehicle and/or Internet-of-Things (IoT) regulations.Develop in-depth understanding of your customers' risks and priorities by conducting data protection audits.Experience with privacy impact assessments and privacy risk and control assessments.Explains complex topics so the target audience can understand, retain, and use the information.  Experience working on complex data-related projects with an understanding of data architecture, data flows, and cloud services.Experience creating data protection documentation and assets (such as RoPAs, privacy notices, etc.).Understanding and implementation of consent strategies with specific experience in automotive and connected Internet-of-Things (IoT) industries being a plus.Understand of and demonstrating the ability to implement privacy enhancing technologies and AI driven tools whilst balancing the business goals as well.Advising on complex cross-functional projects within Business, Product, Legal, and Internal Control teams simultaneously, achieving critical deliverables, deadlines and results.Ability to operate across highly skilled technical and business teams  developing solutions through collaboration.Strong leadership qualities and interpersonal skills to effectively to manage the direct team and take an active role in influencing and creating buy in across cross-functional teams.Ability to learn and quickly and integrate knowledge of Global regulatory and compliance frameworks.Prior experience in a large, multi-national matrixed organization.

 Your background and requirements: 

Preferrable, bachelor’s degree in law and a minimum of 6 years’ experience with demonstrated increase in work complexity over time and greater impact across areas. Experience in handling data subject access requests, incidents and breaches in line with data protection regulations.Exceptional written and verbal communication skills - simplifying complex topics.(Strongly preferred) International Association Privacy Professionals (IAPP), Certified CIPM, CIPPE, CIPT.(Strongly preferred) Previous experience advising on global privacy compliance.(Desirable) Experience with OneTrust.Trusted leader who can inspire loyalty in others, capable of motivating employees at all levels of the ladder within a hierarchical corporate structure. Confident in leading difficult conversations on strategic data protection matters at a senior level while taking a risk-based approach.Creative thinker who is future focused and unafraid to implement new ideas, inspiring others to embrace disruption and adopt new solutions.Effective communicator who can adapt to their audiences needs and convey clear messages through different channels of communication. Results-oriented with a sense of urgency.You have strong organisational & time management skills to manage your time and work effectively to achieve outstanding results.Resilient and determined setbacks as opportunities.Holding self and other accountable to meet commitments.

The Company is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity for all and is opposed to any form of less favourable treatment or harassment on the grounds of race, religion or belief, sex, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.

If you are concerned about applying due to disability, please contact us; we’re an inclusive team and would like to discuss what adjustments we can make to support your application.

What you will do:

Deputise for the Group DPO: Take charge of data protection compliance for customer and employee data.Lead Privacy Initiatives: Spearhead large-scale, cross-functional privacy improvement projects.Draft and Complete DPIAs/PIAs: Provide pragmatic privacy advice on innovative business projects, including algorithms, GenAI, automation, and personalization.AI Project Advisory: Advise on privacy risks associated with new GenAI and AI-related projects.Incident Management: Manage medium and large-scale personal data incidents, including investigation, response, notification assessment, and remediation.Global Privacy Program Support: Assist in managing Ford’s data privacy program and compliance framework.Training and Upskilling: Support the development and training of the Data Protection team.Rights Requests Supervision: Advise on the accurate and timely processing of consumer and employee individual rights requests.Complaint Resolution: Oversee responses to contentious individual complaints, advising on investigations and drafting responses.Policy Development: Draft internal policies, procedures, and guidance materials, and maintain compliance documentation.Regulatory Response: Assist the Group DPO in responding to regulatory enquiries, investigations, and dawn raids.Compliance Audits: Lead and conduct data protection departmental compliance audits.Executive Reporting: Draft reports for the C-Suite and Committees.

Ways you will have impact: 

Contribute to the strategy for data privacy and transparency, its implementation, and, working with the Office of General Counsel Privacy Office, Business, Product, and Engineering partners to support privacy by design of robust end-to-end privacy solutions.Collaborate with business teams to support their data access and privacy needs.Liaise with the legal team and governmental affairs globally to stay abreast of new incoming regulations. Be the voice of Ford in external business forums to help shape the industry future in data privacy.