Overview

Job Description Job Description Advanced Manufacturing Technologist Digital Twin Lab Siemens Digital Engineering Robotics, Additive, AR/VR Virginia Manufacturers Association Manufacturing Skills Institute About VMA and MSI The Virginia Manufacturers Association (VMA) has been the Commonwealth's leading manufacturing trade association and industry advocate for 104 years, representing Virginia's manufacturers since 1922. VMA delivers this program through its national workforce education affiliate, the Manufacturing Skills Institute (MSI), which builds the talent pipeline that Virginia and national manufacturers need to compete and grow. Together, VMA-MSI operates Registered Apprenticeship training, manufacturing skill credentials, employer training, and a national Made-in-America credentialing network. About the Program This position supports Path to Prime, a new VMA-MSI program expanding hands-on manufacturing training and industry-recognized credentials for small manufacturers across Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The program is funded through a grant awarded to VMA-MSI in 2026, and it significantly increases the volume of employer training and credentialing MSI delivers. About the Role VMA-MSI is building a three-site Digital Twin Manufacturing Lab Network, anchored by a new flagship lab in Richmond, and we are hiring the technologist who will help stand it up, run it, and teach in it. At VMA-MSI you would serve as our Digital Twin Lab Engineer, the technical anchor of the lab network. Digital twin technology lets a manufacturer model their production line in software, test changes before touching the floor, and see where they are losing time and money. Most small manufacturers have heard of it and have no idea what it would mean for their operation. Your job is to show them. The lab is new. You will work alongside Siemens Industry Software, our Siemens solution partner, to set it up and configure it, and you will not be doing that alone. They handle the build, the configuration, and the initial training so that the capability transfers to VMA-MSI staff. They will also teach the first courses in the lab. You will support their sessions, learn the material from the people who build it, and take over delivery as the capability transfers. The Lab You Would Run This is not a classroom with a projector. The Richmond flagship is a working advanced manufacturing lab, with scaled companion setups at the West Virginia and Pennsylvania partner sites. • Collaborative robot cell. A UR5e-class integrated cell with controller, gripper, and machine-vision inspection, anchoring Process Simulate demonstrations and hands-on automation training • Industrial additive. A Markforged X7 continuous-carbon-fiber printer producing load-bearing parts and tooling, alongside enclosed UltiMaker S-series machines for engineering nylons and chopped carbon fiber • AR and VR. Sony VR headsets for Siemens digital-twin collaboration and design review, Apple Vision Pro for augmented reality, and Scope AR WorkLink for AR work instructions on the shop floor • Industrial controls. Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 training rigs at all three sites • Metrology. Structured-light 3D scanners comparing as-built parts to as-designed models • IIoT and condition monitoring. Vibration, temperature, and current sensors with gateway and dashboard, plus a portable retrofit kit that turns a manufacturer's own machines into data sources • Digital engineering. Twenty-two mobile NX and Tecnomatix workstations on charging carts, with portable power, so the lab travels to members' shop floors Siemens Industry Software will stand up an end-to-end digital twin of a part, a five-axis CNC machine including kinematics and operational behavior, and its full manufacturing process, with collision detection and toolpath verification. That environment is what you will teach in. The Siemens Training You Would Receive Our Siemens partner delivers roughly twenty-six days of instr