About the role
POSITION SUMMARY
The Area Medical Director (AMD) is a senior physician leader embedded within a defined geography (Northeast, East, Central, or West) to serve as Natera's primary MD-to-MD clinical presence across the community oncology market. This role addresses the intersection of medical affairs, field execution, and scientific credibility — driving engagement with community oncologists, KOLs, and cross-functional field teams to accelerate appropriate utilization of Natera's oncology portfolio, including Signatera and Altera.
The AMD owns regional medical strategy, leads cross-functional field partnerships, and operates with high autonomy to define and execute area priorities. The AMD functions without a defined playbook, translates business strategy into field-level action, and surfaces clinical intelligence that informs both commercial execution and development priorities. This is a 50% field-based role.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
MD-Level Field Engagement
● Execute 12–18 MD-level engagements per quarter across defined geography, with at least 50% concentrated in top strategic community accounts.
● Maintain field presence of at least 4 ride days per month, prioritizing and overseeing area high-value and "platinum" accounts, including lost/down account retrieval. Responsible/accountable for oversight and coordination with these accounts with Associate AMD.
● Establish and maintain contact with the medical lead in the top 20 area accounts; engage 100% of flagged accounts within 10 business days.
Cross-Functional Medical Leadership
● Serve as the primary MD triage point for escalated area medical inquiries, acknowledging at least 90% within 48 hours with 100% closed-loop documentation in Salesforce.
● Partner with MSL managers, Area Sales Directors, and Area Marketing Directors through structured bi-weekly and monthly cadences to align scientific messaging and commercial strategy.
● Participate in at least 75% of high-priority account strategy reviews and area/regional planning sessions; co-own quarterly business reviews with MSL leadership.
Proficiency with and current understanding of Natera’s evidence generation portfolio and ability to speak to/escalate questions or issues coming from area accounts.
Scientific Communication and Education
● Host, present, or observe at least 12 regional educational programs per quarter targeting high-impact community accounts.
● Lead development of at least one educational initiative per cycle (physician-facing, patient-facing, or via webinar/podcast); complete annual recurrent speaker training.
● Ensure consistent, compliant scientific positioning across field activities; document objection-handling themes and manage escalation to histology-specific Medical Directors where appropriate.
Clinical Development Contribution
● Identify and document field-driven evidence generation opportunities; surface at least one histology-specific clinical trial concept per year in collaboration with the CMO and histology Medical Director teams.
● Generate at least 3 actionable regional insights per quarter in quarterly written reports submitted prior to manager review.
● Identify at least 3 qualified KOL collaboration leads per quarter, including IST/RWE prospects, documented in Salesforce.
Performs other duties as assigned.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required:
● M.D. or D.O. with board certification in oncology, hematology, or a directly related clinical specialty.
● Minimum 5–8 years of related clinical or medical affairs experience following board certification (HM5 level; equivalent field experience accepted).
● Demonstrated proficiency across multiple tumor histologies and working knowledge of the molecular residual disease (MRD) diagnostic landscape.
● Experience in a field-based medical affairs, clinical development, or medical education role within oncology diagnostics, pharma, or biotech.
● Proven ability to communicate complex clinical data to community oncologist audiences.
Preferred:
● Direct experience with cfDNA-based or MRD testing platforms (e.g., Signatera, ctDNA-based assays).
● Prior experience in a cross-functional field role collaborating with commercial, MSL, and marketing teams.
● Experience contributing to clinical trial design, IST development, or real-world evidence programs.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES
Technical:
● Deep clinical fluency across multiple solid tumor histologies and understanding of MRD biology, assay methodology, and clinical application in oncology management.
● Working proficiency in Salesforce or equivalent CRM for documentation, engagement tracking, and compliance adherence.
● Ability to analyze and translate clinical data, publications, and evidence landscapes into field-level scientific narratives and objection-handling frameworks.
● Familiarity with regulatory and compliance boundaries governing medical affairs activities, including fair balance and off-label communication protocols.
Behavioral:
● High autonomy. Operates effectively without a defined playbook; identifies the problem, defines the approach, and executes without close management.
● T-shaped profile. Brings deep oncology clinical expertise with the ability to connect across commercial, scientific, and operational domains.
● Builder orientation. Establishes new ways of working, not just operates within existing structures — particularly in ambiguous or rapidly evolving environments.
● Executive presence. Maintains credibility and composure in physician-level and leadership settings; can challenge without alienating.
● Data-driven. Applies clinical evidence and field intelligence to frame medical conversations and inform internal strategic decisions.
● Cross-functional fluency. Communicates clearly across medical, commercial, and marketing functions without requiring translation layers.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS & WORK ENVIRONMENT
This is a field-based role with approximately 50% of time spent in regional travel across a defined geography. The AMD attends in-person customer meetings, educational programs, and internal team meetings, which may require extended hours, evening events, and weekend conference attendance. Remote home-office work constitutes the remaining time and requires reliable high-speed internet access. Physical demands are consistent with standard office and field-based activities.
Travel required for this position: Yes ☒ Anticipated travel: >50% within defined regional geography
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
$250,000—$360,000 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.
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