Global Supply Chain Director
Maple PlainHybridFull-time
AI Summary
Leads the global manufacturing partner ecosystem, managing partner expansion, supplier strategy, capacity planning, and operational excellence across regions.
About this role
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
Global Supply Chain Director
This is a HYBRID role - onsite Tuesday-Thursday in Maple Plain, MN.
The Protolabs Network Global Supply Chain Director will lead the growth and performance of our global manufacturing partner ecosystem, shaping the future of how we deliver for customers worldwide. This strategic leadership role owns partner network expansion, supplier strategy, operational excellence, capacity planning, and cost optimization across key global regions. As a critical driver of Protolabs' growth strategy, you will define and execute our Network fulfillment vision, ensuring scalable capabilities, world-class partner performance, and a competitive global supply chain.
This role leads a team of 16 supply chain professionals across the U.S., Europe, India, and China, including three Regional Supply Chain Managers responsible for supplier strategy, partner development, and operational performance within their regions.
What You Will Do:
- Strategically plans our global partner network in line with commercial needs and pricing demands.
- Identify and mitigate potential risk or disruptions to the regional supply chains, including consideration of supply allocation and dependency on key partners.
- Drive a disciplined partner evaluation and onboarding process, ensuring new partners can reliably deliver to Protolabs quality, lead time, and cost expectations.
- Build demand forecasting and capacity planning capabilities that enable proactive management of partner utilization and prevent delivery failures.
- Build and manage a pipeline of prospective manufacturing partners to proactively fill capacity and capability gaps before they impact customer outcomes.
- Monitor regional ecosystems, including material providers and secondary vendors, to help ensure seamless delivery and maximize our customer offer.
- Partner Performance Management:
- Establish and maintain a comprehensive supplier performance management framework with clear KPIs for quality, on-time delivery, responsiveness, and customer satisfaction.
- Conduct supplier evaluations to monitor regional network performance including on-time shipping, quality metrics, and key platform metrics.
- Establish policies processes that ensure robust guidelines and controls. Implement areas of improvement to manage our supplier relationships in the most scalable, efficient way possible.
- Develop strategic relationships with our most important Manufacturing Partners in all regions to ensure high engagement and retention. Ensure that suppliers' needs, which are critical to the business, are acknowledged and addressed.
- Strategic Leadership:
- Develop and maintain supply chain resilience strategies, including geographic diversification and contingency routing protocols.
- Partner with Global Product Manager to support new capabilities. As needed, develop supply capacity for new capabilities, such as material or technologies and post-processing options, to expand our regional offering and meet customer demands.
- Contribute to the combined offering roadmap, with our Manufacturing Partners and our Protolabs Factory stakeholders.
- People Leadership:
- Build a high-performing team, aligning our regional staffing and skills with overall business objectives and growth plans.
- Lead team initiatives and unify efforts across regions. Monitors team performance and manages talent to ensure high engagement, individual development, and career progression.
- Ensure stakeholder alignment as a member of our overall Network Operations team. This role will partner closely with our Product Management, Sourcing, Partner Operations, Logistics, and Quality teams to drive initiatives and optimize our KPI scorecard.
What It Takes:
What Makes You Stand Out:
What's In It For You:
Skills
3D PrintingAPICS CSCPCapacity PlanningCNC MachiningContingency RoutingData Analytics ToolsDemand ForecastingGeographic DiversificationInjection MoldingSix Sigma Black BeltSupplier Performance ManagementSupply Chain Resilience
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