As a Quality Supervisor II, you will play a key leadership role in ensuring our products consistently meet the highest quality standards while supporting a fast-paced, innovative manufacturing environment.
Reporting to the Site Quality Manager, you will lead daily Quality Control operations, partnering closely with production teams across all shifts to drive quality excellence, operational performance, and continuous improvement. You will provide leadership, coaching, and development to a team of Quality Supervisors, Quality Inspector Leads, On-the-Job Trainers, and Quality Inspectors, helping them grow while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and customer focus.
This role is ideal for a hands-on leader who thrives on solving problems, developing people, and making a measurable impact. You will be a visible presence on the production floor, guiding quality initiatives, supporting operational needs, and building strong cross-functional relationships to ensure products and processes consistently exceed expectations. Through your leadership, you will help strengthen quality systems, improve performance, and contribute to Protolabs' commitment to delivering exceptional results for our customers.
What You'll Do
- Lead with visibility and connection. This role typically follows a Monday through Friday schedule, with most days worked between 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Most weeks, 3-4 days, will follow these core hours, with 1-2 days flexed as needed to support off-shift coverage within a 24/7 manufacturing operation
- Be a visible leader across the site. Our facility operates around the clock, and successful leaders build strong relationships throughout the organization. Regular interaction with employees across all four shifts is an important part of fostering engagement, alignment, and a culture of quality excellence.
- Build and develop high-performing teams. You'll take the time to know your employees, understand their challenges, and create an environment where team members feel supported, valued, and empowered to succeed, regardless of their shift assignment.
- Provide leadership where it's needed most. Whether supporting off-shift operations, addressing critical quality concerns, participating in employee engagement activities, or helping drive key site initiatives, you'll demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness to meet the evolving needs of the business.
- Champion a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. By maintaining a strong presence across the operation and partnering with cross-functional teams, you'll help drive quality performance, operational excellence, and an exceptional employee experience.
- Oversee daily Quality Control operations to ensure effective execution of inspection processes, quality standards, and site procedures
- Provide direct leadership, coaching, and support to multiple Quality Supervisors and On-the-Job Trainers
- Indirectly guide and influence the work of Quality Inspectors to ensure consistent quality performance across the operation
- Partner with the Site Quality Manager to drive departmental performance, employee engagement, and continuous improvement initiatives
- Maintain a visible presence across all four shifts to promote alignment, employee support, and consistent quality expectations
- Adjust schedule as needed to respond to off-shift quality issues, staffing needs, business demands, special events, or employee recognition activities
- Attend and actively participate in daily and recurring operational meetings, including the Daily MRB as often as possible
- Support escalation management, root cause analysis, corrective actions, and resolution of quality-related issues
- Monitor daily workflow, staffing support, inspection coverage, and operational priorities within Quality Control
- Help ensure training effectiveness and standard work consistency across shifts
- Promote a culture of accountability, teamwork, safety, compliance, and quality excellence
- Support implementation and adherence to quality systems, procedures, and documentation requirements
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Manufacturing, Engineering, Technical Operations, and other departments to address quality concerns and improve overall performance
- Track and communicate department performance, issues, trends, and improvement opportunities to leadership
- Assist in developing employees through coaching, feedback, training support, and performance management
- Ensure employees understand and follow site policies, quality requirements, and applicable regulatory or customer standards
- Lead by example in professionalism, communication, responsiveness, and employee engagement
- Associate degree required; Bachelor's degree in a technical field preferred
- Previous leadership or supervisory experience in Quality, Manufacturing, or a related operational environment
- Ability to lead daily operations in a manufacturing or operational setting
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
- Excellent technical, communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills
- Demonstrated ability to build and maintain effective working relationships across departments and shifts
- Experience coaching employees, leading teams, and driving accountability and performance
- Proficiency with applicable regulatory requirements and standards
- Experience with quality systems, inspection processes, and continuous improvement methodologies
- Working knowledge of root cause analysis, corrective action processes, and quality documentation
- Experience training and developing employees in quality systems, inspection methods, and operational procedures
- Proficiency with ISO 9001, AS9100D, and/or ISO 13485 standards
- Six Sigma or Lean Certifications
What's In It For You!
- We offer a competitive salary and Total Rewards Package!
- We offer amazing benefits including but not limited to:
- Health Insurance: Traditional OR High Deductible plan
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Health Savings Account (including employer contributions)
- Dental and Vision
- Basic and Supplemental Life Insurance
- Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
- Paid caregiver leave
- You will receive 3 weeks of PTO + Holiday Pay + Wellness Hours + Volunteer Hours
- 401k with company match and immediate vest
- Employee Stock Purchase Program at a 15% discounted rate
- Matching grants through Protolabs foundation
- And More!
Skills Required
- Associate degree
- Bachelor's degree in a technical field
- Previous leadership or supervisory experience in Quality or Manufacturing
- Ability to lead daily operations in a manufacturing setting
- Experience coaching employees, leading teams, and driving accountability
- Experience with quality systems, inspection processes, and continuous improvement methodologies
- Working knowledge of root cause analysis, corrective action processes, and quality documentation
- Proficiency with ISO 9001, AS9100D, and/or ISO 13485 standards
- Six Sigma or Lean certifications
- Proficiency with applicable regulatory requirements and standards
- Experience training and developing employees in quality systems and inspection methods
- Ability to lift and/or move 50+ pounds and perform physical tasks in a manufacturing environment
- Ability to work onsite Monday-Friday in Brooklyn Park, MN and provide cross-shift coverage as needed
- Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or refugee/asylee (temporary visas not eligible due to ITAR)
Protolabs Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Protolabs and has not been reviewed or approved by Protolabs.
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Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, and vision options are broadly available and described as good to excellent. Additional protections like short- and long-term disability and life insurance bolster the overall package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — A starting PTO allotment plus paid holidays, along with added wellness and volunteer time, is emphasized, with some roles noting PTO growth over tenure. Paid caregiver leave appears in postings and supports flexibility for life events.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) with company match and immediate vesting is offered, supporting long-term savings. This foundation is frequently cited alongside core financial benefits as a strong element of total rewards.
Protolabs Insights
What We Do
Protolabs is the world's fastest digital manufacturing source for rapid prototyping and on-demand production. The technology-enabled company produces custom parts and assemblies in as fast as 1 day with automated 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, and injection molding processes. Our digital approach to manufacturing enables accelerated time to market, reduces development and production costs, and minimizes risk throughout the product life cycle. 3D Printing Our 3D printing service offers a wide selection of materials and technologies to create prototypes and end-use parts with complex geometries and detailed features. With tight process controls, careful design reviews, and extensive quality monitoring, we ensure precise and repeatable 3D-printed parts, every time. CNC Machining We use 3- and 5-axis milling along with turning to machine parts from commercial-grade plastics and metals. Our online quoting system and automated manufacturing process enable us to ship parts within 24 hours, helping customers accelerate development and reduce time to market. Sheet Metal Fabrication Protolabs is an industry leader in quick-turn sheet metal parts for both prototyping and low-volume production. Our digital approach to manufacturing enables us to fabricate sheet metal parts in as fast as 5 days. Additionally, we can support our customers’ development efforts with component assemblies, several finish options, and screen printing. Injection Molding Our injection molding service offers two options—prototyping and on-demand manufacturing—which provide customers a tooling solution that aligns with their project’s requirements. It’s used for quick-turn prototyping, bridge tooling, and low-volume production of up to 10,000+ parts in 15 days or less.
