Data Privacy Director

Natera; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 190,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Free testing for family

Parental leave

401k plan

Commuter benefits

Employee referrals

Job summary

Natera is seeking a Data Privacy Director to lead and operationalize the enterprise privacy program across commercial, clinical, and product environments. This role partners with cross‑functional teams to embed privacy principles throughout data, technology, and innovation initiatives, while mentoring privacy professionals and external resources.

The Director will drive privacy by design in product lifecycles, govern data use across clinical research, and ensure compliance with HIPAA, GDPR, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in a related field; IAPP certification highly preferred.
• 10+ years of privacy, data governance, or compliance experience with increasing leadership responsibility.
• Strong expertise in HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA/CPRA and global privacy regulations.
• Experience embedding privacy into product/software lifecycles (privacy-by-design).
• Experience supporting clinical research/privacy with Medical Affairs or Clinical Ops.
• Familiarity with IRB, informed consent, and Good Clinical Practice (GCP).
• Experience across commercial, clinical, and product environments; AI/ML governance a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead privacy program enablement including impact assessments and regulatory analyses.
• Review contracts for privacy implications and draft recommendations for counsel.
• Embed privacy-by-design into product and engineering lifecycles.
• Partner with technical teams to translate privacy requirements into controls.
• Mentor privacy team members and external resources as the program scales.
• Develop governance frameworks for data access, sharing, and secondary use.

Skills

Privacy leadership

Regulatory expertise

Privacy-by-design

Stakeholder influence

Cross-functional collaboration

Policy drafting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a related field

IAPP certification (CIPP/CIPT) preferred

Tools

JIRA

Google Workspace

Job description

Natera is seeking a Data Privacy Director to help advance and operationalize the enterprise privacy program across our commercial, clinical, and product environments. This is a broad, hands‑on leadership role supporting the full range of the Privacy team's work — from privacy impact assessments and regulatory analysis to contract and legal privacy‑focused reviews — with a strong business‑enablement orientation. This role reports to the Vice President, Data Privacy and partners with cross‑functional teams to embed privacy principles throughout the lifecycle of data, technology, and innovation initiatives. The Director may also provide guidance and mentorship to privacy team members and external resources supporting the program.

The Director will also serve as a key integration point between Privacy and Product, embedding privacy‑by‑design into product and software development lifecycles and partnering with engineering to make privacy practical and scalable. In partnership with Medical Affairs, Clinical Operations, and Data Sciences (R&D), this leader will also enhance and maintain data governance frameworks that support clinical research initiatives and the responsible use of data for quality improvement and development activities. Together, these efforts will help strengthen Natera’s privacy program, building efficient, repeatable processes that expand team capacity while enabling responsible innovation and growth.

Regarding culture, we seek people who demonstrate Natera's values, enjoy challenging problems, empower others to thrive, lead by example, and adapt their playbook when necessary.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Privacy Program Enablement

• Lead privacy impact assessments, regulatory analyses, and risk‑based recommendations that balance compliance with business enablement
• Conduct privacy reviews of contracts and legal engagements, drafting recommendations for counsel review, alignment, and approval
• Apply a risk‑based lens to enable business decisions
• Build efficient, repeatable processes and tooling that scale program capacity within a resource‑constrained team
• Provide direction and mentorship to team members and external resources as the program scales
• Serve as the integration point between Privacy and Product/Engineering, embedding privacy‑by‑design into product and software development lifecycles
• Partner with technical teams to translate privacy requirements into practical controls, patterns, and reusable technical solutions
• Support privacy engineering practices that operationalize compliance without slowing delivery

Data Use Governance & Decision Frameworks

• Implement standardized, risk‑based frameworks for data access, sharing, secondary use, and commercial/partnership data usage
• Drive consistency in how data use decisions are evaluated, approved, and documented across the organization

Data Ethics & Responsible Data Use

• Operationalize guardrails for use of sensitive and regulated data, AI/ML training data, and advanced analytics
• Embed ethical considerations into governance processes and decision‑making

Commercial & Clinical Data Ecosystem Governance

• Govern data flows and usage across marketing/advertising technologies, commercial partnerships, and third‑party data sharing
• Serve as the embedded privacy partner for Medical Affairs and Clinical Operations, advising on privacy requirements for clinical research protocols, clinical trials, real‑world evidence studies, and secondary use of clinical data
• Collaborate with Clinical Operations to ensure data flows and consent frameworks align with applicable regulations (HIPAA, IRB requirements, GCP guidelines) and internal governance standards
• Support privacy for clinical research, clinical trials, and secondary research use of data
• Enable business teams to leverage data responsibly while minimizing regulatory and reputational risk

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s Degree in a related field (e.g., law/legal studies, information systems, business administration, data analytics); IAPP certification highly preferred (e.g., CIPP, CIPT, AGCP)
• 8-10 years of experience in privacy, data governance, compliance, or related disciplines, with increasing leadership responsibility
• Strong expertise in global privacy regulations (HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, etc.)
• Experience embedding privacy into product and software development lifecycles (privacy‑by‑design, privacy engineering)
• Experience supporting clinical research or clinical trials from a privacy perspective, including working directly with Medical Affairs, Clinical Operations, or similar teams
• Familiarity with IRB processes, informed consent frameworks, and Good Clinical Practice (GCP) as they relate to data privacy
• General healthcare compliance background (e.g., fraud, waste & abuse, Stark Law, Anti‑Kickback Statute, Sunshine Act)
• Experience working across commercial, clinical, and product/technology environments
• Familiarity with AI/ML and advanced analytics governance concepts as they relate to data use and ethics
• Proven ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into practical, scalable processes
• Strong ability to influence and align senior stakeholders across functions
• Experience leading, mentoring, or managing privacy professionals or cross‑functional teams
• Experience with program management and collaboration tools (e.g., JIRA, Google Workspace)

IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE

• A systems thinker who connects fragmented processes into cohesive, scalable solutions
• A bridge‑builder across technical, legal, and business domains— including Medical Affairs and Clinical Operations
• Effective in complex environments and able to build structure and alignment across stakeholder groups
• Passionate about responsible data use and enabling growth through pragmatic privacy

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!

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.

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.

Natera values transparency and fair hiring practices. Disclosure of a family relationship does not automatically disqualify you from employment. This information helps us comply with our internal policies on conflicts of interest and reporting structures.

As set forth in Natera’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service‑connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three‑year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.