engineering
Posted Jun 16Principal Software Engineer
at Natera
On-site
Requirements
- The team builds the cloud infrastructure, workflow platforms, and data platforms that R&D uses to do its science — including a Kubernetes-based workflow execution platform, a custom R&D LIMS system, and a set of supporting tools that routinely handle production-scale workloads.
- We're a small team (4 engineers + lead) with broad scope, and we're heavily AI-augmented: every engineer uses Claude Code / Cursor as a daily tool, and we build our own AI tooling (custom plugins, MCP servers, agents) to multiply ourselves. Responsibilities
- AI-Native Development: Build and improve our AI-coding tooling alongside the rest of the team. Help us push the frontier of agent-driven software development inside the company.
- experience across a range of systems and problem types.
- experience with a major cloud platform (AWS preferred; GCP or Azure equivalent). You've designed for a cloud, not just deployed to one.
- experience with Kubernetes (or equivalent). Comfortable reasoning about cluster design, scheduling, networking, and workload patterns.
- experience with Terraform (or equivalent). Comfortable owning shared modules and multi-environment deployments.
- Programming: Strong proficiency in at least one general-purpose language (Python, Go, Java, or similar).
- Comfortable picking up new languages as needed — and comfortable using AI tooling to accelerate that.
- Familiarity with our tech stack: AWS, Kubernetes, Python, Go, Groovy, Terraform, Helm, Nextflow, WDL, Django, React. How You Work
- Calibrated Judgement: You know when to move fast and break things, and when to slow down and double-check. The ability to dial this in based on context is something we hire specifically for.
- Experience: Prior work in any of the following helps you ramp faster, but is not required: scientific or bioinformatics computing, LIMS or laboratory data systems, workflow orchestration engines (Nextflow, WDL, Airflow, Argo, Temporal, Dagster, etc.), large-scale ETL or data pipeline systems, or HPC/batch-compute platforms. Why Join Us
- Operate at the frontier of AI-augmented software engineering. We don't just talk about AI tooling — we build it, and use it daily.
- Natera™ is a global leader in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing, dedicated to oncology, women’s health, and organ health.
Experience
- Partner with the team lead on roadmap, prioritization, and tough technical calls. Required Experience Years of
- Experience: 10+ years of professional software engineering
Benefits
- AI-Native Development: Actively excited about AI-native development. Not just willing to use Claude / Cursor, but actively interested in building tooling that makes your colleagues 10x faster. Bonus Domain-Adjacent
- Competitive salary and benefits.
- Compensation & Total Rewards
- This range reflects a good-faith estimate of the base pay we reasonably expect to offer at the time of hire. Final compensation will vary based on experience, qualifications, and internal equity considerations.
- This position is also eligible for additional compensation and
- benefits through Natera’s robust Total Rewards program, including: •
- Annual performance incentive bonus •
- Long-term equity awards •
- Comprehensive health benefits (medical, dental, vision) •
- Generous paid time off and company holidays •
- Compensation Range $219,800 — $274,700 USD OUR OPPORTUNITY
- 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.
- 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
Contact
- For more information, visit www.natera.com .
- Link: https://www.natera.com/notice-of-data-collection-california-residents/
- Please be advised that Natera will reach out to candidates with a @ natera.com email domain ONLY.
Additional details
- Location: South San Francisco, CA preferred; Remote optional Job Type: Full-time About the Role
- You'll own the full architecture, implementation, and delivery of large projects across our platform.
- You'll partner with the team lead on roadmap and tough technical calls, mentor mid-level engineers, and help the team find the right solution for the problem — not the most elaborate one.
- Architecture & Delivery: Own the design, implementation, and delivery of major initiatives across our platform. Take fuzzy problems through to shipped, working software used in production.
- Technical Leadership: Lead architecture and design reviews. Help the team find the right solution for the problem and avoid unnecessary complexity. Influence technical decisions across the team.
- Mentorship: Mentor mid-level engineers through code review, design docs, and pairing. Raise the engineering bar by example.
- Cross-Functional Partnership: Work with bioinformaticians, scientists, and other R&D engineers to understand their needs and translate them into platform capabilities.
- End-User Software: You've shipped software to end users (internal or external). You understand the realities of running a product — incongruent user feedback, competing priorities, the gap between
- Team Leadership: You've led an engineering team before and have mentored junior engineers. You're comfortable being the technical owner of multi-quarter initiatives.
- Startup Background: You've worked in fast-moving environments where results need to be delivered quickly. Scrappy, MVP-first, comfortable shipping in days rather than weeks.