Quinn started his career at Motherwell and also played for Cardiff City, Doncaster Rovers, Ross County (two spells), Aberdeen and Dundee United.

In the 2002–03 season, he made his first professional appearance for the club, replacing Brian Dempsie as a substitute during the SPL game against Celtic on 1 December 2002.

On 11 January 2008, it was announced that Quinn would assume the role of club captain, due to the sudden death of Phil O'Donnell the previous month.

Although vice-captain Stephen Craigan was widely expected to be promoted to the position of club captain, he continued in his existing role.

On 4 June 2009 he signed for Football League Championship side Cardiff City on a three-year contract for a fee of around £300,000,[5] describing the transfer as his "ideal move".

[13] Quinn then went on to make 43 league and cup appearances for Doncaster Rovers, helping them become League 1 Champions when he cleared the missed penalty at the Brentford game on the final day of the season, his long pass out of the box finding Billy Paynter just inside his own half who went up to the other end and passed to James Coppinger to score the winner.

[14] However, on 22 August 2014, his contract with the club was ended by mutual consent[15] Quinn returned to Scottish football in October 2014, when he signed for Ross County.

[23] Ahead of the 2016–17 season, Quinn was handed the captaincy at Ross County, after the previous captain Andrew Davies had asked to leave the club.