Associate Director Network Operations at Natera

POSITION SUMMARY:

Natera is seeking a hands-on, strategic Associate Director of Network Operations to modernize, scale, and safeguard a global network supporting critical healthcare and genomic operations. This leader will drive both technical excellence and operational strategy, combining deep engineering expertise with a vision for continuous innovation and business alignment.

The ideal candidate will lead a globally distributed network operations team, set architectural and operational roadmaps, tackle high-severity incidents, and deliver transformational improvements in automation, resilience, and performance. Success in this role demands ownership, precision under pressure, and the ability to influence technology and business stakeholders alike.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Own the stability, security, and scalability of Natera’s global enterprise network (LAN, WAN, SD-WAN, wireless, firewalls) across cloud and on-prem environments.

• Define and drive the network modernization roadmap — leading initiatives around automation, zero-trust architecture, performance engineering, and resiliency.

• Lead a high-performing team of network engineers; set technical standards, enforce accountability, and develop engineering talent.

• Act as top-tier escalation and incident commander for critical network events — diagnosing in real-time and leading rapid recovery efforts.

• Design, configure, and optimize core infrastructure — you will remain hands-on in shaping network evolution.

• Build and maintain strong cross-functional partnerships with Security, DevOps, Engineering, and Business Operations to support hybrid, high-growth environments.

• Lead network capacity planning, lifecycle refreshes, and risk mitigation programs with a focus on proactive resilience.

• Drive full-stack observability — improving telemetry, actionable alerts, and predictive analytics using SolarWinds, LogicMonitor, and similar platforms.

• Champion firewall policy enforcement, segmentation, and secure remote access strategies alongside Information Security teams.

• Maintain compliance with regulatory frameworks, internal controls, and change management governance (e.g., SOX, HIPAA).

• Define and report operational KPIs (uptime, MTTR, change success rates) to IT and executive leadership, driving transparency and continuous improvement.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Required:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Technical Field or Equivalent

  • CCIE (Cisco Certified Internet Engineer)

• Strongly Preferred:

  • Palo Alto PCNSE, Juniper JNCIP/JNCIE

  • AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty

  • AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional

  • ITIL Foundation v3/v4

  • Experience within a HIPAA controlled biotech, pharma or healthcare enterprise

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE:

• 8-12 years in enterprise network engineering, with 5+ years leading technical teams (5-15+ engineers).

• Proven ability to balance operational excellence with long-term strategic planning.

• Experienced in building high-accountability, high-performance engineering cultures.

• Own and optimize escalation models, on-call rotations, and incident management frameworks.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

Deep, hands-on expertise in:

• Enterprise network design, hybrid cloud networking (AWS), and security-integrated architectures.
  Advanced routing and switching (BGP, OSPF, EIGRP), Layer 2/3 designs, VLANs, VRFs, STP, HA topologies.

• Next-gen firewalls (Palo Alto Networks), wireless (Meraki), VPNs/IPSec/GRE, load balancing, NAT, and QoS.
  Tools: SolarWinds, LogicMonitor, Wireshark, NetFlow, SNMP.

• Platforms: Juniper, Cisco (Meraki), Palo Alto Networks, Opengear.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS & WORK ENVIRONMENT:

• This position requires the ability to use a computer keyboard, communicate over the telephone and read printed material.

• Duties may require working outside normal working hours (evenings and weekends) at times.

• Duties require being part of an on-call rotation

Travel required for this position: Up to 25%