Head of Data Engineering & Platform, Real-World Data (RWD)

Natera is a global leader in cell-free DNA testing, dedicated to oncology, women’s health, and organ health. They are seeking a leader to head Data Engineering and Platform for Real-World Data, responsible for driving the strategy and roadmap for the RWD platform and leading the development and delivery of data products in healthcare environments.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of data engineers and SQA, with a focus on strong engineering practices, career development, and operational ownership
• Define and drive the strategy and roadmap for the Real-World Data platform, including capabilities that support research and analytics, rapid data mart development, and secure data de-identification and sharing
• Partner with product, bioinformatics, analytics, AI, software engineering, and infrastructure teams to define requirements, priorities, data contracts, and delivery models, and translate them into scalable platforms, production-grade pipelines, and reusable data products for clinical, molecular, genomic, and real-world data
• Lead the delivery of curated datasets, data marts, and consumer-facing data solutions, defining data SLAs and service expectations to ensure products are reliable, timely, well-documented, and fit for downstream use
• Provide technical leadership across data platform architecture, system design, and engineering practices, including data quality, validation, metadata, lineage, observability, testing, and operational support
• Drive execution across the team through planning, prioritization, estimation, hiring, and delivery management, while balancing long-term platform investments with near-term business needs

Requirements:

• Bachelor's, Master's or PhD degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Bioinformatics, or a related technical field; advanced degree is a plus
• 8+ years of experience in software engineering or data engineering, including substantial experience building production-grade data platforms, pipelines, and data products, along with 4+ years of engineering leadership experience
• Strong hands-on expertise in Python, SQL, and modern data engineering practices, including pipeline development, data modeling, workflow orchestration, testing, code reviews, and agile delivery
• Deep experience designing and operating scalable, secure, and observable data platforms in cloud environments, with AWS strongly preferred
• Experience with modern data warehouse and query technologies such as Snowflake, Redshift, PostgreSQL, Athena, or similar platforms, along with strong knowledge of relational and analytical data systems
• Experience working with healthcare, clinical, genomic, or real-world data domains, including environments requiring strong governance, de-identification, and secure handling of sensitive data
• Experience building and operating data platforms with strong DevOps and operational practices, including CI/CD, observability, infrastructure automation, production support, and secure access patterns
• Proven ability to lead and develop strong teams while remaining technically credible, with strong communication, collaboration, and execution skills
• Experience partnering with research, bioinformatics, scientific, or analytical users to understand workflow needs and deliver effective data products and platform capabilities is strongly preferred
• Hands-on experience with bioinformatics pipelines, molecular and clinical data, and healthcare data models such as FHIR or OMOP is strongly preferred