Join Natera's Bio Development team as an Associate Scientist to design, optimize, and validate molecular assays for our market-leading non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) platform. This role bridges molecular biology with high-throughput liquid handling automation to directly impact patient care. The ideal candidate possesses strong experience in assay development, automated workflows, and data analysis, operating with an ownership mindset to convert scientific data into scalable clinical protocols.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Design, plan, and execute complex laboratory experiments autonomously to advance non-invasive prenatal test development
Analyze experimental data using advanced analytical tools, providing data-driven insights and troubleshooting laboratory processes
Own and document technical workflows, summarizing findings in research reports and laboratory presentations
Partner cross-functionally with Clinical Laboratory Operations (CLIA), Quality Assurance (QA), and Automation Engineering to ensure methods meet rigorous quality and regulatory standards
Write standard operating procedures (SOPs) and technical documentation to seamlessly transfer protocols to manufacturing and operations teams
Train junior team members and operator teams on newly developed protocols
Maintain deep professional expertise by staying current with scientific literature relevant to cell-free DNA and nucleic acid technologies
QUALIFICATIONS:
BA/BS with 6+ years of experience OR MS with 3+ years of experience in assay development and automation within the life sciences industry
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Demonstrated track record of developing, optimizing, and validating manual and automated protocols
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:
Strong underlying scientific knowledge of nucleic acid extraction, PCR, NGS library preparation, and hybrid capture technologies
Hands-on experience in reagent preparation and quality control for NGS-associated assays
Direct experience implementing, optimizing, and troubleshooting high-throughput automated assays utilizing liquid handler robotics
Experience designing and executing formal design control studies, including stability, guard banding, reproducibility, repeatability, and validation
Prior experience operating within a regulated laboratory environment (CLIA, CAP, or FDA)
Data analysis and scripting proficiency in Python or R, along with liquid handler programming experience, is highly preferred
Excellent cross-functional collaboration, organizational, and time management skills
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.
Austin, TX
$84,000—$105,000 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.
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
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