Senior Director of AI Diagnostics

Natera; San Carlos (CA); On-site; USD 275,000 - 340,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Equity awards

401(k) match

PTO & holidays

Wellness benefits

Job summary

Natera is seeking a Senior Director to lead the research, development and clinical translation of AI and computational algorithms for oncology diagnostics, spanning data types from molecular genomics to clinical outcomes. You will shape the foundation model strategy and guide teams through research, validation, and deployment.

The role requires building and guiding a high-impact algorithm team, partnering with Product, Clinical, and Commercial leaders to prioritize use cases, establish

Qualifications

• PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Machine Learning, Biostatistics, or related quantitative field (Master’s considered with significant experience).
• Substantial experience leading multidisciplinary teams and owning complex development programs through clinical deployment.
• Ability to define and advance a foundation model research strategy with clinically grounded vision.
• Experience taking AI/ML or computational algorithms from research through validation and deployment in diagnostics.
• Strong understanding of analytical and clinical validation for regulated diagnostics.
• Depth in at least one oncology data modality (NGS, liquid biopsy, transcriptomics, or whole-slide imaging).
• Experience managing people managers and influencing senior stakeholders across R&D, Quality, Regulatory, Clinical, and Commercial.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead the algorithm team, hiring key talent and upholding scientific rigor.
• Own the path from research to launch with milestones and evidence-based go/no-go criteria.
• Set strategy with Product, Clinical, and Commercial to prioritize use cases and decide investments.
• Push the technical frontier with foundation models and multimodal learning for clinically useful products.
• Ensure data quality, rigorous validation, and post-launch monitoring for regulatory readiness.

Education

PhD in quantitative field

Master’s degree with substantial experience considered

Job description

Natera is hiring a Senior Director to lead the research, development and clinical translation of AI and computational algorithms for oncology diagnostics, from research prioritization through validation, deployment, and ongoing performance monitoring. Natera’s longitudinal oncology data resources span tumor genomics, ctDNA, transcriptomics, pathology images, and clinical outcomes, creating opportunities to develop and validate models across molecular, imaging, and clinical data. This role turns that data into multimodal AI products that change how oncologists treat patients.

We are looking for a scientific leader with a compelling vision for how foundation models can advance oncology diagnostics. You will shape our foundation model strategy - identifying the highest-valued opportunities in longitudinal molecular, imaging, and clinical data, defining the capabilities we need to build, and guiding their translation into clinically useful products. This requires both the imagination to pursue new possibilities and the judgment to establish where these approaches deliver meaningful advantages. You will lead an established algorithm team, develop its technical and leadership capabilities, and recruit talent aligned with the product roadmap. With Product and other partners, you will set strategy and decide which opportunities move toward clinical deployment.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and lead the team: Grow the existing algorithm research team, hire key talent, and set a high bar for scientific rigor and execution.
• Own the path from research to launch: Establish development milestones and evidence-based go/no‑go criteria from feasibility through validation and launch, with clear ownership, reproducible analyses, and documented decisions.
• Set strategy with Product: Partner with Product, Clinical, and Commercial leaders to prioritize clinical use cases, define intended use and success criteria, and make investment, continuation, and stop decisions based on evidence, feasibility, and clinical and business value.
• Push the technical frontier: Bring in foundation models and multimodal deep learning, and turn our data into products that set us apart from competitors.
• Deliver with quality: Make sure every algorithm is built on clean data, validated rigorously, and monitored after launch, so it holds up for clinicians, patients, and regulators.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Machine Learning, Biostatistics, or a related quantitative field. A Master’s degree with substantial additional experience will be considered.
• Substantial experience developing computational products, including sustained leadership of multidisciplinary teams and ownership of complex development programs through clinical deployment. Demonstrated scope and impact equivalent to a Senior Director are more important than prior title.
• Demonstrated ability to define and advance a foundation model research strategy, grounded in a deep understanding of representation learning, pretraining, adaptation, and evaluation. Able to articulate an original, clinically grounded vision, translate it into a research roadmap, and guide teams through consequential scientific and technical decisions.
• Demonstrated accountability for taking at least one AI/ML or computational algorithm from research through validation and clinical deployment within a diagnostic product. Candidates should be able to explain their decisions, validation responsibilities, cross-functional role, and post-launch results.
• Strong understanding of analytical and clinical validation for regulated diagnostics, including what regulators expect from AI-based products.
• Depth in at least one oncology data modality, such as NGS, liquid biopsy, transcriptomics, or whole-slide imaging, and sufficient breadth to lead across modalities. Able to challenge model design, data assumptions, evaluation methods, and Python-based analyses through technical reviews; routine coding is not a core responsibility.
• Demonstrated experience managing people managers and developing technical leaders, building development processes that teams adopt, and influencing senior stakeholders across R&D, Quality, Regulatory, Clinical, and Commercial without direct authority.
• Experience overseeing algorithm deployment and lifecycle management, including reproducible implementation, model and data versioning, release controls, and post-launch performance monitoring, in partnership with Engineering and Quality.

Preferred Qualifications

• Multimodal experience: Experience building models that combine two or more data types, such as genomics, imaging, and clinical data.
• Scientific and technical contribution: Evidence of contribution through deployed products, patents, publications, or substantive collaborations.
• External partnerships: Experience evaluating or co-developing algorithms with academic groups, pharma, or tech partners.
• AI infrastructure: Experience building or leading the adoption of MLOps, model registries, or large-scale training environments.
• Real-world data: Experience working with claims, EHR, or registry data linked to outcomes.

Compensation & Total Rewards

This range reflects a good-faith estimate of the base pay we reasonablyexpect to offer at the time of hire.Final compensation will vary based on experience, qualifications, and internal equity considerations.

This positionis also eligible for additional compensation and benefits throughNatera’s robust Total Rewards program, including:

• Annual performance incentive bonus
• Long-term equity awards
• 401(k) with company match
• Generous paid time off and company holidays
• Additional wellness and work-life benefits

Compensation Range

$275,000 - $340,000 USD

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.

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.