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Patent Agent

Palo Alto, CA

About Arc Institute

The Arc Institute is a new scientific institution conducting curiosity-driven basic science and technology development to understand and treat complex human diseases. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Arc is an independent research organization founded on the belief that many important research programs will be enabled by new institutional models. Arc operates in partnership with Stanford University, UCSF, and UC Berkeley.

While the prevailing university research model has yielded many tremendous successes, we believe in the importance of institutional experimentation as a way to make progress. These include:

  • Funding: Arc fully funds Core Investigators’ (PIs’) research groups, liberating scientists from the typical constraints of project-based external grants.
  • Technology: Biomedical research has become increasingly dependent on complex tooling. Arc Technology Centers develop, optimize, and deploy rapidly advancing experimental and computational technologies in collaboration with Core Investigators. 
  • Support: Arc aims to provide first-class support—operationally, financially, and scientifically—that will enable scientists to pursue long-term high risk, high reward research that can meaningfully advance progress in disease cures, including neurodegeneration, cancer, and immune dysfunction.
  • Culture: We believe that culture matters enormously in science and that excellence is difficult to sustain. We aim to create a culture that is focused on scientific curiosity, a deep commitment to truth, broad ambition, and selfless collaboration.

Arc has scaled to nearly 200 people. With $650M+ in committed funding and a state of the art new lab facility in Palo Alto, Arc will continue to grow quickly in the coming years.

About the position

We are looking for a registered Patent Agent to prepare and prosecute patent applications across various life sciences disciplines. The ideal candidate will work closely with inventors to secure valuable patent protection. A successful Patent Agent will be highly proactive and collaborative, with a positive approach and a passion for learning new technologies. This position reports to the Institute’s Head of Intellectual Property and Licensing.

About you

You enjoy learning, reading, and writing about different types of cutting-edge scientific research, and are energized by spending your day with scientists. You are curious and enjoy diving so deep into the details of an invention that you could moonlight as a lab member. You have a client service orientation, and are happy to customize your counseling approach for different inventors. You enjoy staying up-to-date on new developments in patent law, including patent prosecution best practices. You take deep satisfaction in producing well-crafted and detail-oriented documents.

In this position you will

  • Prepare and prosecute patent applications for scientific discoveries across multiple modalities, technical disciplines, and disease areas.
  • Develop and maintain a deep understanding of the Institute’s research activities.
  • Collaborate closely with Institute scientists to identify potentially patentable inventions and proactively guide the invention disclosure process.
  • Conduct scientific and patent landscape analyses.
  • Contribute to patent prosecution strategy.

Requirements

  • 3+ years of experience in life sciences intellectual property portfolio creation, strategy, and counseling.
  • A Ph.D. in biological sciences such as molecular biology, biochemistry or chemical biology.
  • Admission to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  • Proven track record of drafting patent applications in diverse technical disciplines.
  • Ability to work with different internal stakeholders in customized, client-centered ways. 
  • Ability to take initiative and proactively follow-through on projects.
  • Excellent analytical, written, and verbal communication skills.

The base salary range for this position is $159,500 to $197,500. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual base compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, market conditions, education/training, skill level, and whether the compensation is internally equitable, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This position is also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and institute performance factors.

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