Staff Software Engineer in Test, Product Engineering US Remote

Natera, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Natera, Inc. in the United States is seeking a highly technical Staff Software Engineer in Test to join the Oncology CGP Product Engineering team.

This role centers on test architecture and end-to-end validation for a complex microservices platform, spanning order ingestion, lab execution, and patient reporting, with an AI-native mindset. You will lead integration testing efforts, shape CI/CD practices, and influence multiple teams through architectural guidance and technical leadership,

Responsibilities

• Define Integration Test Architecture: Architect and deploy comprehensive, automated system integration testing frameworks that mirror complex, multi-component service environments.
• Contract-First Validation: Review and validate OpenAPI/Swagger REST specifications and Avro schemas for Kafka topics to enforce strict communication protocols across microservices.
• Shift Left Testing Initiative: Collaborate early in the project lifecycle to isolate and address integration discrepancies within the design phase.

Job description

US Remote

Position Summary

Natera is at the forefront of personalized genetic testing, transforming the management of disease worldwide. As we scale our life-saving diagnostics, we are fundamentally transforming our approach to software quality and reliability.

We are seeking a highly technical, hands-on, and high-agency Staff Software Engineer in Test to join our Oncology Comprehensive Genomic Profiling (CGP) Product Engineering team. In this technical leadership role, you will serve as the test architect and lead developer for our product integration efforts, ensuring we deliver robust, on-time solutions across our CGP portfolio. You will act as the technical backbone for validating our most complex "Pillar" projects — operating across a sophisticated system of interconnected software products and distributed microservices. This demands deep, expert-level mastery of the system from two dimensions: working closely with architects to understand how it is built, and partnering with product managers to understand how it is used. You will translate that dual expertise into tests that reflect real-world complexity end-to-end — from order ingestion through lab execution to patient reporting — catching failure modes that only someone who truly knows the system would anticipate. You will bring an AI-native mindset as a core differentiator — leveraging advanced LLM methodologies to auto-generate test scenarios, analyze system logs, surface anomalies, and continuously optimize our CI/CD pipeline.

Crucially, while this is an individual contributor role, you will operate as a central leader — driving consensus, architectural alignment, and engineering excellence through influence rather than formal authority across Engineering, R&D, Commercial, and Clinical teams. You thrive in fluid environments, adapt quickly to change, and chart a clear path forward even amid unknowns.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Test Strategy & Integration Architecture

• Define Integration Test Architecture: Architect and deploy comprehensive, automated system integration testing frameworks that mirror Natera's complex, multi-component service environments.
• Contract-First Validation: Review and validate OpenAPI/Swagger REST specifications and Avro schemas for Kafka topics during the architecture phase to enforce strict communication protocols across microservices.
• Shift Left Testing Initiative: Collaborate with Solution Architects early in the project lifecycle to isolate and address integration discrepancies within the design phase, long before