Lead Engineer- Factory Simulation

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The Lead Engineer- Factory Simulation leads individual virtual factory and simulation projects from concept through recommendation, implementation support, and handoff to operations or engineering teams. This role develops project plans, coordinates requirements, manages timelines and risks, and ensures simulation studies produce actionable outputs that support facility design, line changes, and operational decision making.

The position focuses on building and managing simulation projects for new facilities, line reconfigurations, material flow changes, capacity expansions, and process optimization across fab, weld, automation, and assembly. This person works closely with Operations Engineering, Manufacturing, Automation, Materials, Planning & Scheduling, Safety, Quality, and Business Technology to validate assumptions, model real-world constraints, and translate simulation results into implementable layouts and process improvements.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Bachelor’s degree required (Mechanical, Industrial, Manufacturing, Operations, Architectural Engineering, or related field)

8+ years of experience in manufacturing, operations, industrialized construction, engineering, simulation, or related field.

Experience with factory/facility simulation, digital twins, discrete-event simulation, or manufacturing layout planning tools (e.g., Dassault 3DEXPERIENCE/DELMIA, FlexSim, Plant Simulation, Simio, Autodesk, or similar).

Experience participating in or leading projects involving facility layouts, process optimization, material flow analysis, or capacity modeling.

Travel:  0-25%

Work Schedule:   This position works between the hours of 7 am and 5 pm, Monday through Friday.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead virtual factory and simulation projects that support new facilities, line moves, process redesigns, and capacity expansions across fab, weld, automation, and assembly operations.
• Develop and maintain project charters, timelines, budgets, assumptions, and risk registers for assigned simulation initiatives.
• Coordinate requirements gathering with Operations Engineering, Manufacturing, Automation, Materials, Planning & Scheduling, Safety, Quality, and Business Technology.
• Build, manage, or coordinate creation of digital factory and virtual twin models that represent facility layouts, equipment, routing logic, staffing, and material flow scenarios.
• Use simulation tools to evaluate alternative layouts, staffing plans, equipment configurations, AGV paths, and process flows based on throughput, WIP, utilization, and space constraints.
• Identify bottlenecks, constraints, and operational risks within current-state and future-state manufacturing scenarios and develop data-driven recommendations for improvement.
• Partner with fab, weld, automation, and assembly stakeholders to translate simulation results into actionable facility layouts, line designs, and implementation plans.
• Support integration of simulation inputs with CAD, PLM, ERP, MES, or planning data where applicable to improve model accuracy and execution relevance.
• Coordinate model validation activities to ensure simulation assumptions, logic, and outputs reflect real-world operating conditions and business constraints.
• Track and report project KPIs such as modeled throughput, utilization, cycle time, space usage, schedule adherence, and implementation benefits.
• Provide regular status updates, issue escalation, and recommendation summaries to the Manager, Manufacturing Programs – Virtual Factory (Simulation) and other stakeholders.
• Support scenario analysis and “what-if” studies for capital planning, line balancing, resource planning, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Maintain project documentation, model libraries, assumptions logs, and lessons learned to improve repeatability and standardization across simulation projects.
• Support change management, stakeholder alignment, and training efforts so simulation outputs are understood and used effectively in operational and engineering decisions.
• Performs other related duties as required and assigned.
• The job description and responsibilities described are intended to provide guidelines for job expectations and the employee's ability to perform the position described. It is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all functions, responsibilities, skills, and abilities. Additional functions and requirements may be assigned by supervisors as deemed appropriate.
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