Principal Technology Strategist, Lab Systems Reports to: SVP, Laboratory Systems and Product Engineering

Work Model: Remote (with periodic travel to San Carlos, CA and Austin, TX)

Position Summary

The Principal Technology Strategist for Lab Systems is an enterprise-level technical leader responsible for the architectural vision and "north star" of the informatics platforms that power our global clinical laboratories. This role focuses on operational excellence through technology, ensuring that our software ecosystem is a competitive advantage rather than a bottleneck.

This strategist will define how we modernize and integrate the full lifecycle of a clinical sample—spanning order management, sample accessioning, high-throughput tracking, and end-to-end workflow orchestration. Beyond the "wet lab workflows," this role is accountable for the seamless technical integration between laboratory systems and the broader commercial ecosystem, including Order Intake & Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), and Customer Experience (CX) platforms.

In the first 90 days, the Strategist will map the "Order-to-Result" technical journey, identifying friction points in sample triage and data handoffs. They will establish credibility with Lab Operations and Commercial leadership by proposing a high-level integration framework that reduces manual touchpoints.

Within the first year, the Strategist will have designed and begun the rollout of a unified orchestration layer that standardizes how Oncology, Women’s Health, and Organ Health samples move through our facilities. Success will be measured by improved “sample journey”, reduced turnaround times (TAT), and a scalable architectural blueprint that allows new assays to be onboarded with minimal custom engineering.

Key Responsibilities

Lab Operational Excellence & Workflow Orchestration

Design the architectural framework for next-generation sample accessioning and triage, utilizing automation and intelligent routing to minimize manual data entry and sample handling errors.

Define the strategy for End-to-End Workflow Tracking, ensuring real-time visibility of sample status from kit activation through wet-lab processing to final clinical reporting.

Lead the modernization of Workflow Orchestration, moving away from static, hard-coded paths toward a dynamic, metadata-driven engine that supports complex branching across multiple lab sites.

Partner with Lab Ops to identify "automation-first" opportunities, ensuring software and robotics (Hamilton, Tecan, etc.) are deeply integrated for maximum throughput.

Commercial & Enterprise System Integration

Architect the "Digital Bridge" between Laboratory Information Systems (LIMS) and commercial platforms, ensuring robust, bi-directional data flow with EMR/EHR systems and Provider Portals.

Collaborate with Customer Experience (CX) teams to ensure lab data is surfaced to patients and providers through modern, API-driven interfaces.

Lead the technical strategy for "Order Triage," ensuring complex clinical orders are validated and routed correctly across diverse business units (Oncology, MRD, WH).

Technology Transformation & "Build-vs-Buy"

Lead deep-dive technical evaluations of third-party LIMS, Middleware, and RCM integration engines, weighing them against the long-term benefits of our homegrown informatics ecosystem.

Develop the technical roadmap for transitioning legacy, siloed databases into a unified enterprise data fabric that supports both clinical operations and downstream R&D.

Strategic Technical Leadership

Act as the lead technical advisor to the SVP and a mentor to the 400-person engineering organization, fostering a culture of "Systems Thinking."

Bridge the gap between the "Physical Lab" and "Digital Software," ensuring that architectural decisions account for the realities of clinical scale and regulatory rigor (CLIA/CAP/FDA).

Qualifications

Required

10+ years of experience in enterprise software architecture, with a heavy emphasis on Laboratory Informatics, LIMS, or Healthcare IT.

Demonstrated success designing systems that manage high-volume sample lifecycles (Accessioning, Triage, and Orchestration).

Proven expertise in Enterprise Integration Patterns, specifically connecting clinical lab systems to EMRs and RCM/Billing platforms.

Deep understanding of the "Order-to-Cash" technical journey in a diagnostic or medical device environment.

Strong executive presence with the ability to influence Lab Operations, Commercial, and Engineering stakeholders.

Preferred

Familiarity with FDA-regulated software and Computer System Validation (CSV) for complex integrations.

Background in Genomics or Oncology, specifically handling the complexities of "Dry Lab" data pipelines and "Wet Lab" physical constraints.

Work Model & Travel

This is a remote role requiring periodic travel to San Carlos, CA and Austin, TX. On-site "floor time" in the clinical labs is essential to understand the operational challenges this role is tasked with solving.

The pay range is listed and actual compensation packages are based on a wide array of factors unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, years & depth of experience, certifications and specific office location. This may differ in other locations due to cost of labor considerations.

Remote USA**$182,900—$228,600 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!

For more information, visit www.natera.com.

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.

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply, and will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with applicable laws.

*If you are based in California, we encourage you to read this important information for California residents. *

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. 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.

For more information:

• BBB announcement on job scams
• FBI Cyber Crime resource page