Scaling Ford Credit's product function with 22 hires

The Challenge

Ford Credit, the financial services powerhouse behind Ford Motor Company, had ambitious plans for its Product function. They needed to bring in mid-level leaders who could drive real transformation - the kind of experienced professionals who don't typically respond to job postings.

Finding passive talent in competitive Product markets requires dedicated focus and established networks. Internal teams, no matter how skilled, rarely have the bandwidth to properly engage senior professionals who aren't actively job searching. Ford Credit needed access to this hidden talent pool without diverting internal resources from other priorities.

The quality bar was high. They were building the leadership layer that would shape their Product strategy for years to come.

Having worked with Chief Product Officer, Mark Harris, throughout his career and placing him in multiple roles, he trusted Burns Sheehan to support the hiring challenge.

The Solution

Burns Sheehan became Ford Credit's dedicated Product hiring function, operating seamlessly alongside their internal team.

Direct integration with decision-makers: We established weekly check-ins with hiring managers and fortnightly updates with HR, creating clear communication channels that eliminated typical agency bottlenecks. Direct access to hiring managers meant rapid decision-making and real-time role adjustments as their needs evolved.

Market intelligence and strategic insights: Beyond individual placements we provided regular market analysis, candidate pipeline data, and hiring trend reports. This gave Ford Credit's leadership team the market context they needed to make informed decisions about role positioning, compensation and timing.

Deep understanding of their hiring DNA: Working exclusively with Ford Credit's Product function meant we developed genuine expertise in what success looked like in their environment. We understood their culture, their technical requirements, and the leadership qualities that would thrive in their transformation context.

Community and network building: Ford Credit's team regularly participated in our industry events and roundtables, giving them direct access to the broader Product community and insights from other organisations facing similar challenges.

The Results

Over 20 months (May 2023 – January 2025):

22 strategic hires across all levels of the Product function, including:

• Product Managers
• Product Analysts
• Product Ops Managers
• UX Managers
• Senior Product Designers
• Group Product Managers

Quality and efficiency metrics:

• 17 days average time-to-hire (significantly faster than industry standard for Product roles)
• 1.85:1 CV-to-interview ratio (highly targeted candidate selection)
• 88% NPS score across all stakeholders
• 41% female placements in a traditionally male-dominated function

Ford Credit built their Product leadership team without disrupting their global operations or compromising on quality. More importantly, they did it while maintaining the candidate experience that reflects their brand values.