Lead Bioinformatician

Summary

Join Natera as a Lead Bioinformatician to spearhead biomarker and therapeutic target discovery across oncology, organ health, and women's health programs. Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to design and implement robust multi-omics analyses, create clear data visualizations, and translate findings into actionable insights. Develop and enhance analytic pipelines for various sequencing data, integrate heterogeneous datasets, and prototype new algorithms. Automate workflows, collaborate with stakeholders, generate reports and visualizations, and contribute to external partnerships. Stay current on emerging bioinformatic methods and public datasets. This role requires a PhD in a related field and 5+ years of relevant experience (or MS with 7+ years) and proven experience managing complex multi-omics projects.

Requirements

• PhD in bioinformatics, computational biology, genomics, statistics, or related field and 5+ years relevant post-graduate experience (or MS with 7+ years)
• Proven track record managing complex multi-omics projects from concept to insight in an industrial or core-facility setting
• Deep experience with Illumina NGS data; familiarity with long-read (PacBio, ONT) or single-cell platforms is advantageous
• Strong proficiency in Python and/or R; comfortable in a UNIX/Linux environment and with workflow languages (e.g., Nextflow, Snakemake, WDL)
• Solid grasp of statistics, experimental design, and best practices for reproducible research (Git, notebooks)
• Demonstrated ability to distill complex results for interdisciplinary teams; excellent written and verbal communication skills

Responsibilities

• Develop & enhance analytic pipelines for DNA-, RNA-, and epigenomic sequencing (short- and long-read) covering somatic, germline, expression, and methylation data
• Integrate heterogeneous datasets (bulk & single-cell genomics, proteomics, clinical metadata) to reveal biomarkers and novel drug-target hypotheses
• Prototype and benchmark new algorithms (e.g., variant calling, expression deconvolution, pathway/network analysis); establish gold-standard datasets and QC metrics
• Automate workflows to improve speed, reproducibility, and scalability in a regulated environment; document and release production-quality code
• Collaborate with R&D stakeholders to refine requirements, interpret results, and iterate on study designs across oncology, transplant/organ health, and women’s reproductive health
• Generate clear reports and visualizations for internal review, manuscripts, regulatory submissions, and conference presentations
• Contribute to external partnerships and cross-functional research projects; stay current on emerging bioinformatic methods and public datasets

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with SQL or similar query languages for large-scale data retrieval is a plus
• Exposure to immune-repertoire or immuno-oncology datasets is welcomed but not required; broader oncology, organ-health, or women’s-health experience highly valued
• Knowledge of cloud computing environments (AWS, GCP, Azure, or DNAnexus) and distributed data-processing frameworks
• Familiarity with public resources such as TCGA, GTEx, UK Biobank, ENCODE, NCBI dbGaP, or large-scale consortia datasets relevant to organ and women’s health
• Experience contributing to regulatory filings or clinical assay development

Benefits

• Employee benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life and disability plans for eligible employees and their dependents
• 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!