Manager of Bioinformatics

About the role

Natera is seeking a Manager, Bioinformatics to lead production support for the bioinformatics and data science algorithms behind our Women's Health and Organ Health products. You will own the operational performance and scientific quality of the algorithms in production, leading a team of Data and Bioinformatics Scientists who are accountable for how those algorithms behave on real samples. You will serve as the primary technical owner of the support function, interfacing between the algorithm development teams and the production organization to ensure timely and accurate answers. A core part of this role involves resolving inconclusive reports by synthesizing the full body of evidence and determining whether the issue stems from technical constraints, data quality, or algorithmic behavior. You will build and maintain a catalogue of known patterns and edge cases so new cases can be matched to settled precedents, and leverage AI tools to assemble evidence and assist in triage decisions. Success in this role requires strong cross-functional leadership, as you will coordinate across Production Engineering, Product, the laboratory, and R&D to align on changes in direction and scope without direct authority.

Key facts

What you'll do

Lead the support function for data science and bioinformatics algorithms in production, ensuring answers are correct and delivered while they remain actionable.

Investigate complex cross-system issues, distinguishing between biological signal, algorithmic behavior, data quality, and infrastructure problems, and determine the correct owning team for fixes.

Translate one-off investigations into durable rules and design changes to prevent recurring inconclusive reports and reduce future escalations.

Own the process validation for pipelines and algorithms as operations change, defining the evidence required before changes proceed to production sample workflows.

Lead, hire, and develop a team of Data and Bioinformatics Scientists, setting an example of deep systems judgment and rigorous analytical thinking.

Partner with Production Engineering, Product, Bio Development, laboratory operations, and Data Science R&D to resolve operational issues and eliminate recurring problems through upstream fixes.

Represent the actual behavior and limitations of the algorithms to dependent groups, negotiating commitments and necessary changes that require consensus rather than authority.

Set standards for AI and agent-assisted investigation, defining what conclusions an agent may make autonomously and what must be reproduced by hand before entering records.

Establish a defined service commitment for the function, including turnaround and coverage expectations, and align it with the needs of dependent groups.

Utilize AI tools as a routine part of support work, recognizing that unreviewed conclusions can cause significant damage and maintaining strict standards for agent-assisted workflows.

Build and maintain a knowledge catalogue of known patterns and edge cases to enable faster resolution of new inconclusive reports.

Work with R&D to convert validated learnings from production incidents into improvements in algorithms and pipelines.

Balance schedule pressure against the need for thorough change validation, holding the bar for evidence and quality even when timelines are tight.

Act as the central point for the production organization, becoming the go-to resource for questions about what the algorithms actually do and how to interpret their outputs.

Requirements

You must have a Bachelor's degree in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or a closely related field, or equivalent practical experience.

You must have demonstrated experience managing bioinformatics or data science workflows in a production environment, with a track record of improving reliability and reducing escalations.

You must have strong experience investigating cross-functional issues that span laboratory operations, data pipelines, algorithms, and infrastructure.

You must be comfortable working with large-scale genomic or clinical data sets and understanding the biological implications of algorithmic outputs.

You must have experience defining and enforcing process standards for algorithm changes and validation in operational settings.

You must have proven ability to lead and develop technical teams, including hiring, mentoring, and conducting performance evaluations.

You must have excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience coordinating across multiple functions and negotiating priorities without direct authority.

You must be comfortable using AI-assisted tools for investigation and analysis while maintaining rigorous standards for evidence and reproducibility.