Senior Software Quality Engineer

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 a Senior Software Quality Engineer! This is a HYBRID role - onsite Tuesday-Thursday in Maple Plain, MN. We are seeking a Senior Software Quality Engineer to help our agile engineering team deliver reliable enterprise web applications and APIs. This is a hands-on senior individual-contributor role for an engineer who combines strong test-automation skills with a practical, risk-based approach to quality. A primary focus of this role is building dependable automated testing into CI/CD pipelines so the team receives fast feedback and can release with confidence. You will work closely with software engineers, product managers, business analysts, and architects throughout the development lifecycle. Rather than acting as a final quality gate, you will help the team build quality into design, implementation, delivery, and production operations. You will influence testability, develop maintainable automation primarily in C#/.NET and Python, own the continuous-testing approach within CI/CD, and provide clear evidence about product and release risk. What You Will Do: - Define risk-based test strategies for new features, integrations, and critical business workflows - Design and maintain reliable automated tests and frameworks using C#/.NET, Python, and appropriate testing tools - Own the team’s CI/CD test-automation strategy, including test stages, quality gates, reporting, and failure diagnostics - Build effective API, integration, system, and end-to-end coverage while balancing execution speed, reliability, and maintainability - Partner with engineers throughout development to improve testability, prevent defects, and strengthen shared ownership of quality - Validate API reliability and performance, supplemented by targeted exploratory and functional testing where appropriate - Investigate defects, flaky tests, and production issues; lead root-cause analysis and durable corrective actions - Assess release risk using test results, defect trends, and production signals, and mentor teammates in quality-engineering practices - Write clean, maintainable, and well documented code following established development standards - Participate in code reviews and contribute to continuous improvement of development practices - Collaborate effectively with engineers, analysts, QA, and operations teams - Communicate progress, risks, and dependencies clearly to team members and stakeholder - Explore and apply AI based tools or techniques to improve development efficiency and automation (where appropriate) What You Bring: - Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience - 5+ years of experience in Software Testing, Software Quality Engineering or Quality Assurance - Experience in software quality engineering, software development in test, or a related engineering role - Proven ability to design maintainable test frameworks and automated coverage for enterprise web applications and APIs - Strong programming and debugging skills in C#/.NET or Python, with the ability to contribute in both environments - Experience designing CI/CD test automation, including test stages, quality gates, reporting, and failure investigation - Strong knowledge of API testing, integration testing, and defect investigation - Experience with Git-based workflows and agile, cross-functional product development - Ability to communicate quality risks, influence engineering practices, and mentor teammates What Sets You Apart: - Experience with performance, load, or resilience testing for web applications and APIs. - Experience with browser and API automation tools such as Playwright, Selenium, or Postman/Newman. - Experience with Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or comparable CI/CD platforms. - Working knowledge of SQL, relational databases, observability, and production telemetry. - Familiarity with security and accessibility testing; relevant quality, cloud, or automation certifications are a plus. 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 at least 3 weeks of PTO + Wellness + Holiday Pay + Volunteer Hours - 401k with company match and immediate vest - Employee Stock Purchase Program at a discounted rate - Matching grants through Protolabs foundation - 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.