Digital Simulation Manager

Caterpillar•Lafayette, IL

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc. When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it. Role Summary: The Digital Twin Product Owner for Modern Manufacturing leads the strategy, roadmap, and delivery of digital twin capabilities that enable the next generation of manufacturing operations. This role is responsible for defining and managing the digital twin product portfolio enabling virtual modelling, simulation, and optimization of manufacturing systems across global production environments. The product owner ensures the digital twin capabilities deliver measurable improvements in throughput, quality, uptime, and operational agility by enabling engineering and plant teams to simulate, test and optimize production processes before changes and implemented I the physical environment. This role operates at the intersection of manufacturing operations, industrial engineering, data platforms, and enterprise technology translating business objectives into scalable digital capabilities that accelerate modern manufacturing transformation.

Requirements

Software Product Management: Leads complex digital product development initiatives within manufacturing environments, guiding products from concept through delivery while balancing technical feasibility, operational constraints, and stakeholder priorities.
Demonstrates consistent success delivering complex technology products in active manufacturing settings , ensuring alignment across engineering, operations, and business teams.
Software Product Business Knowledge: Applies a strong understanding of manufacturing operations , including production systems, automation, and quality management, to define product vision, functional roadmaps, and long‑term platform strategies.
Uses domain expertise to anticipate user needs, align product capabilities to operational realities, and shape scalable digital solutions across manufacturing use cases.
Business Acumen: Leverages deep manufacturing and digital transformation knowledge to inform product and investment decisions that align with enterprise objectives and operational performance goals.
Evaluates product opportunities and trade‑offs through the lens of business impact, manufacturability, scalability, and long‑term value.
Value Realization: Drives digital transformation initiatives with a strong focus on measurable outcomes, ensuring technology investments deliver tangible improvements in efficiency, quality, and operational effectiveness.
Aligns product execution with value realization by integrating process change, technology adoption, and performance measurement within manufacturing environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience with digital twin, simulation, or industrial modeling techniques
Hands-on experience with NVIDIA Omniverse , including: – Omniverse Kit – USD (Universal Scene Description)
Experience integrating real-time industrial data into software systems
Background in industrial IoT, MES, or smart manufacturing platforms
Experience operating within large, global manufacturing organizations

Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Roadmap Define and own the digital twin product vision and roadmap aligned to the modern manufacturing strategy.
Identify high value use cases including factory simulation, line balancing, virtual commissioning, etc.
Prioritize investments based on business value, operational impact and scalability.
Product Ownership & Delivery Serve as the accountable owner for digital twin capabilities across manufacturing operations
Manage the product backlog, release planning, and feature prioritization.
Ensure alignment across engineering, manufacturing, data platform and IT teams.
Use Case Development: Partner with plants to define and prioritize digital twin use cases, lead pilots and scale across global facilities, and replicate best practices for digital twin adoption within plant operations.
Manufacturing Optimization: Enable plant teams to simulate production flow, machine interactions, process bottlenecks and quality variation to provide operational improvements including cycle time reduction, capacity optimization, and predictive maintenance strategies.
Platform Integration: Establish data synchronization between physical assets and virtual models while partnering with IT to seamlessly integrate across key enterprise systems (ERP, MES, etc.)
Governance: Establish model fidelity standards, simulation validation methods, and data governance practices.