The Role
The Senior Product Designer will lead user-focused design projects, conduct research, and create prototypes for digital experiences, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams.
Summary Generated by Built In
Be yourself at Protolabs
Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. We are an equal opportunity employer, and we are committed to building a diverse team that feels they are valued in the workplace. So do you feel you do not meet every single requirement but still intrigued? We encourage you to still apply! You can help make our company even better. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, age, mental or physical ability, or any way you represent yourself. We strongly believe diversity makes for more successful teams.
Why Protolabs?
We are the leaders in digital manufacturing. We hire doers, makers, and creative thinkers who tackle our roles with an entrepreneurial spirit. Our culture is centered around meaningful work that brings new and innovative products to market at unprecedented speeds. We are a diverse team that comes from all walks of life and take pride in our team who is smart, genuine, humble, and passionate about what we do. It’s our people who fuel our creativity and make our culture feel like home.
Join our team as an Senior Product Designer!
This is a fixed hybrid (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) role based out of HQ in Maple Plain, MN.
As a Senior Product Designer at Protolabs, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping seamless, intuitive, and scalable digital experiences that help innovators bring products to life. You’ll lead the design of customer‑focused solutions across web, mobile, and emerging platforms—translating insights into polished prototypes, thoughtful interactions, and cohesive end‑to‑end journeys.
In this role, you’ll collaborate closely with product, engineering, and research partners to explore new ideas, iterate quickly, and deliver high‑impact work that drives both user satisfaction and business value. If you thrive in an environment where you can influence strategy, elevate design quality, and bring bold concepts to market, we’d love to meet you.
What you'll do:
- Lead generative and evaluative research: user interviews, usability testing, contextual inquiry, concept testing to identify unmet customer needs and validate direction before investment
- Synthesize research into clear insights; frame and shape problems with the Technical Product Manager before solutions are explored, not after
- Build working knowledge of core personas (engineers, procurement buyers, operations managers, suppliers) and use it to ground design decisions in observed behavior, not assumptions
- Design coherent experiences across complex, multi-step workflows: quoting, configuration, ordering, order tracking, supplier interactions
- Produce the right artifacts at the right fidelity: journey maps, service blueprints, flows, wireframes, interactive prototypes, final specs
- Apply accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA) as a baseline expectation, not a post-launch retrofit
- Actively contribute to and evolve the design system. Use shared patterns, strengthen them through new work, and flag gaps or inconsistencies
- Partner with the Design System team to review component implementation; close the gap between design intent and shipped experience
- Document design decisions and component behavior clearly enough for engineers to implement without ambiguity
- Facilitate design reviews, critique sessions, and design sprints that generate real alignment, not performance of process
- Represent design quality and user needs in cross-functional forums with confidence and evidence
- Mentor mid-level and junior designers through critique, co-working sessions, and honest feedback
- Raise design quality through proactive process improvements, shared design principles, and documentation that outlasts the project
- Stay ahead of how AI-assisted design tools are changing the practice; bring a point of view, not just awareness
What it takes:
- Bachelor’s Degree (or international equivalent) Interaction Design, Product Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, or equivalent practical experience.
- 5+ years of relevant experience
- Interaction design depth and understanding how people navigate complex systems, not just how to make screens look good.
- Research methods, planning and running of moderated tests, interviews, co-design sessions and concept evaluations.
- Systems thinking; designing for patterns, not for pages.
- Strong written and verbal communication.
- Continuous learning mindset, always eager to acquire new knowledge and skills
- Ability to balance competing priorities and allocate resources effectively
- Comfort working iteratively in continuous delivery environments
- Figma (UX team uses Figma as its main tool, knowledge should be fluent, not learning)
- Prototyping tools: Figma, Cursor, or equivalent for interaction validation
- Familiarity with design handoff and developer collaboration workflows
What makes you stand out:
- Experience designing for B2B platforms
- Familiarity with data-heavy, configuration-driven, or multi-step transactional flows
- Ability to connect UX research findings to product strategy, not just design iteration
- Background in service design or journey mapping at a systems level, across more than one product team
- Familiarity with AI-assisted design tooling (Figma AI, v0, or similar) and a clear-eyed view of what it changes about the design process and what it doesn't
- Exposure to design operations: how teams track decisions, maintain documentation, and scale consistent quality without centralizing every decision
What's in it for you!
- We offer a competitive total compensation package
- In addition, we offer competitive 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 PTO + Holiday Pay + Wellness Hours + Volunteer Hours
- 401k with company match and immediate vest
- Employee Stock Purchase Program with a 15% discount
- And More!
Proto Labs maintains ITAR-compliant operations in all of our United States based facilities. Due to ITAR regulations, this role is only open to U.S. Citizens, lawful permanent residents (green card holders) or foreign nationals granted refugee or asylee status. Individuals with temporary visas (e.g. E, F-1, H-1, H-2, L, B, J, TN or OPT) are not eligible for hire in this role.
Proto Labs, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Physical Demands:
While performing the essential duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use a computer keyboard, monitor and mouse, telephone and printer; reach with hands, and arms, talk, see and hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, stoop or kneel and must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
Work Environment:
Indoors (A/C); nonsmoking; the majority of this job function is performed in an office setting requiring normal safety precautions. However, there may be job duties that require the employee to spend time in the manufacturing areas exposed to machinery and noise; eye protection occasionally required. Occasionally works in outside weather conditions. Occasionally works near moving mechanical parts and in high, precarious places and is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, fumes or airborne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals, risk of electrical shock and vibration. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's Degree in Interaction Design, Product Design, or equivalent
- 5+ years of relevant experience
- Strong knowledge of Figma and prototyping tools
- Ability to conduct user research and usability testing
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.
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The Company
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.
