Director of Data Science and Bioinformatics

This is an exciting opportunity to lead and grow the Data Science and Bioinformatics function supporting Natera's Women's Health and Organ Health product portfolios. In this role, you will build the bioinformatics capability within the Data Science development team, establish scalable AWS cloud infrastructure, and ensure the quality and reproducibility of the genomic algorithms powering our clinical products.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategy and Vision

• Build and define the Bioinformatics function within the Data Science development team, identify technical tooling gaps, and execute a roadmap to advance genomics-based algorithm development.
• Establish and enforce pipeline and algorithm quality standards, including review processes, validation frameworks, and documentation practices

Infrastructure and Automation

• Own and architect scalable AWS-based data science and bioinformatics infrastructure, ensuring quality, reproducibility, and reliable deployment of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) algorithms.
• Implement MLOps tooling and automated validation frameworks to support reliable algorithm deployment into clinical production.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Research, Product Development, Laboratory Operations, Engineering, and Quality teams to implement stable, scalable pipelines and support successful productization

Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor and hire a high-performing team of bioinformaticians and data scientists, establishing technical quality standards and clear operational ownership.
• Build technical depth within the team to support expanding product roadmaps across Women's Health and Organ Health.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master of Science or Ph.D. in a quantitative technical discipline (Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or equivalent).
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in Data Science or Bioinformatics, with at least 5 years of direct people management experience leading technical teams.
• Hands-on experience architecting AWS cloud infrastructure for data-intensive bioinformatics workloads and NGS pipeline execution.
• Demonstrated ability to identify capability gaps independently, build scalable infrastructure, and drive execution without waiting for formal structure.
• Strong communicator who builds cross-functional alignment across Research, Engineering, and Quality teams through technical clarity, direct engagement, and data-driven reasoning.
• Track record of developing bioinformatics talent and delivering computational pipelines that support commercial product development.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience developing software and pipelines within regulated environments (CLIA, FDA, or ISO framework).
• Experience with MLOps frameworks and pipeline tools (MLflow, Nextflow, WDL, Docker).
• Advanced knowledge of statistical inference, machine learning, and genomic data processing.

OUR OPPORTUNITY

Natera™ is a global leader in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing, dedicated to oncology, women’s health, and organ health. Our aim is to make personalized genetic testing and diagnostics part of the standard of care to protect health and enable earlier and more targeted interventions that lead to longer, healthier lives.

The Natera team consists of highly dedicated statisticians, geneticists, doctors, laboratory scientists, business professionals, software engineers and many other professionals from world-class institutions, who care deeply for our work and each other. When you join Natera, you’ll work hard and grow quickly. Working alongside the elite of the industry, you’ll be stretched and challenged, and take pride in being part of a company that is changing the landscape of genetic disease management.

WHAT WE OFFER

Competitive Benefits - Employee benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life and disability plans for eligible employees and their dependents. Additionally, Natera employees and their immediate families receive free testing in addition to fertility care benefits. Other benefits include pregnancy and baby bonding leave, 401k benefits, commuter benefits and much more. We also offer a generous employee referral program!

For more information, visit www.natera.com.

Natera is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace environment, and welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives. Inclusive collaboration benefits our employees, our community and our patients, and is critical to our mission of changing the management of disease worldwide.

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply, and will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with applicable laws.

If you are based in California, we encourage you to read this important information for California residents. 

Link: https://www.natera.com/notice-of-data-collection-california-residents/

Please be advised that Natera will reach out to candidates with a @natera.com email domain ONLY. Email communications from all other domain names are not from Natera or its employees and are fraudulent. Natera does not request interviews via text messages and does not ask for personal information until a candidate has engaged with the company and has spoken to a recruiter and the hiring team. Natera takes cyber crimes seriously, and will collaborate with law enforcement authorities to prosecute any related cyber crimes.

For more information:
- BBB announcement on job scams 
- FBI Cyber Crime resource page