Principal Software Engineer

We're seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join Natera's R&D team. We build 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. This is a senior technical 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. 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

Own the design, implementation, and delivery of major initiatives across our platform; Take fuzzy problems through to shipped, working software used in production; 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; Mentor mid-level engineers through code review, design docs, and pairing; Raise the engineering bar by example; 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; Work with bioinformaticians, scientists, and other R&D engineers to understand their needs and translate them into platform capabilities; Partner with the team lead on roadmap, prioritization, and tough technical calls

Requirements

10+ years of professional software engineering experience across a range of systems and problem types; Production experience with a major cloud platform (AWS preferred; GCP or Azure equivalent); Production experience with Kubernetes (or equivalent); Comfortable reasoning about cluster design, scheduling, networking, and workload patterns; Production experience with Terraform (or equivalent); Comfortable owning shared modules and multi-environment deployments; Strong proficiency in at least one general-purpose language (Python, Go, Java, or similar); Comfortable picking up new languages as needed; Shipped software to end users (internal or external); Led an engineering team and mentored junior engineers; Comfortable being the technical owner of multi-quarter initiatives; Worked in fast-moving environments where results need to be delivered quickly; Familiarity with our tech stack: AWS, Kubernetes, Python, Go, Groovy, Terraform, Helm, Nextflow, WDL, Django, React; Product-minded; Calibrated Judgement; AI-Native Development

Nice to have

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; HPC/batch-compute platforms

Benefits

Annual performance incentive bonus; Long-term equity awards; Comprehensive health benefits (medical, dental, vision); 401(k) with company match; Generous paid time off and company holidays; Additional wellness and work-life benefits; Free testing for employees and immediate families; Fertility care benefits; Pregnancy and baby bonding leave; Commuter benefits; Employee referral program