Director, Engineering - Solution Architecture

Director, Engineering - Solution Architecture Position Summary Natera is at the forefront of personalized genetic testing, transforming the management of disease worldwide. As we scale our life-saving diagnostics, we are transforming our approach to the development of complex software solutions. We are seeking a visionary decisive Director of Engineering, Solution Architecture to lead the technical strategy for our core "Pillar" projects. You will be a technical strategist who combines deep architectural expertise with high-agency execution. You will not just design solutions; you will define the rigorous "Plan of Record" —the architectural blueprints and reusable frameworks that guide our engineering teams. In this role, you will lead a team of "Active Architects" who serve as the Technical Quarterbacks for our most complex initiatives. You will champion the design of intelligent, cloud-native systems that balance speed and flexibility with the non-negotiable requirements of architectural robustness, observability, and regulatory compliance. Key Responsibilities Strategic Leadership Define the Technical Vision: Lead the creation of comprehensive architectural strategies and blueprints that align with long-term business goals. You are responsible for the "Plan of Record" —the single source of truth that defines how business requirements convert into scalable software. Architectural Governance: Drive governance by setting standards, conducting deep-dive reviews, and managing technical risk across projects. Establish loops to detect "Architectural Drift" and take decisive action to correct code that deviates from the design or update the designs. Platform Evolution: Design and evolve cloud-native systems with a relentless focus on scalability, security, and observability. Create reusable frameworks that guide teams in building high-performance services. Product Execution The "Technical Quarterback": Partner with Digital Product Managers and Product Integration Leads in a "Three-in-a-Box" model. You own the "How," guiding solution design, decomposition, and critical trade-off decisions. Contract-First Design: Go beyond high-level diagrams. Explicitly define or facilitate integration specifications, API contracts (OpenAPI/Swagger), and event schemas (Kafka) to ensure robust interoperability between components. Hands-on Guidance: Work closely with engineering teams to troubleshoot technical roadblocks and ensure the "Sample-to-Report" lifecycle is robustly implemented. Modernization AI-Native Innovation Lead Modernization: Drive initiatives to migrate from monolithic legacy systems to service-oriented, event-driven architectures. Design strategies to safely encapsulate legacy logic using Anti-Corruption Layers. AI-Native Leverage: Pioneer the use of AI to revolutionize architecture. Use LLMs to map legacy codebases, generate specs, and identify refactoring opportunities. Partner with AI/ML teams to ensure the scalable integration of intelligent services. Team Building Culture Cultivate Excellence: Mentor senior engineers and architects, cultivating a culture of system thinking and technical excellence. Build a "T-Shaped" Team: Recruit and lead a team of architects who combine broad system views with deep technical specializations. Foster a culture where architects are expected to read code, dive into repositories, and own the success of the build. Qualifications 10+ years of software engineering experience , with 6+ years in a senior architectural leadership role designing enterprise-scale systems. Deep Architectural Mastery: Proven success with architectural transformation initiatives, including service decomposition, Domain-Driven Design (DDD), and platform re-architecture. Cloud-Native Expertise: Deep experience designing systems in AWS, with a strong understanding of architectural trade-offs (performance vs. cost vs. resilience). Hands-On Engineering Background: Strong background in co ... (truncated, view full listing at source)