NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced 76 jobs will be coming to Advanced Integrated Technologies in Norfolk.

The upcoming increase in the workforce comes with AIT investing $500,000 in Norfolk to expand its capacity in training, higher pay and more equipment.

The maritime industry business specializes in repairing ships for the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Military Sealift Command as well as for the maritime, industrial and commercial industries in the United States.

At the announcement Friday, Youngkin boasted that Virginia beat out California and Pennsylvania for the project, something he attributed to AIT’s continued presence and excellence in the maritime industry.

“We see businesses coming here all the time and find that we have extraordinary infrastructure,” Youngkin said. “I mean, you can’t look over a hill here without recognizing that when it comes particularly to the maritime industries and supporting our Navy, there’s no place better than Hampton Roads Virginia.”

In December 2022, the governor unveiled his Compete to Win agenda, which focuses on bringing jobs and businesses to Virginia over the next three years. He said this project is just the tip of the iceberg of that mission.

“I firmly believe we can do more, do it faster,” Youngkin said. “It’s time to hit the accelerator and that’s the whole part of our year two agenda.”

AIT, off of Ingleside Road, is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business established in 2009. Owners Carl and Cheryl Spraberry said the funding and the governor’s backing of their company was the most monumental moment in AIT’s history.

Cheryl Spraberry said the wages for the future jobs will start at $13 to $16 per hour, with no prior experience or college degree needed.

“We’re looking for welders, pipe fitters, shipfitters, mechanics, outside machinists, inside machinists, electricians, fire watch laborers,” she said.

The say they are also looking for managers.

Carl Spraberry is a U.S. Navy veteran. He said when he and Cheryl created AIT, he wanted to do the same thing he did in the Navy, keep the war fighters doing what the have to do.

He called out to anyone looking for a job in his company.

“If you come and you’re looking for a job and decide college is not for you, you have a home, you have a good salary, and a job here,” Carl Spraberry said.

Youngkin said the funding already started to trickle in as of Friday, but the jobs will come a little later.