Jobs at Kardigan (Now Hiring) — 8 open

Position Title: Executive Director, Intellectual Property 

Department: Legal 

Reports To: Vice President, Intellectual Property 

Location: South San Francisco, CA or Princeton, NJ – On-site 4 days per week (Mon to Thurs) 

Job Overview 

The Executive Director of Intellectual Property (IP) is a highly experienced, strategic, and driven intellectual property attorney who can provide advice and counseling to the business on a broad range of scientific and IP legal issues. This key member of the legal team will report to the Vice President, Intellectual Property and will be responsible for providing IP legal support to a number of different programs at various stages of development. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of patent law, Orange Book listings, ANDA litigation and bring creative and strategic approaches to protecting Kardigan’s efforts. 

This position is hybrid and will be primarily located in South San Francisco, CA or Princeton, NJ.  

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

• The Executive Director of Intellectual Property will be able to conceptualize, develop, implement and manage intellectual property portfolio strategies worldwide to maximize value and utility of IP assets for current and future commercial assets 
• Independently provide expert IP advice to senior scientific and business leaders and demonstrate thoughtful risk management in decision making 
• Responsible for identifying preparation of patent applications, patent prosecution, and annual patent portfolio management to ensure the efficient use of our resources
• Collaborate with various functions within Kardigan to foster a science-driven and innovative environment that ensures that IP is effectively identified, captured and filed
• Oversee strategies for addressing competitor IP, including administrative proceedings such as oppositions, post-grant reviews, inter-partes reviews, and re-examinations
• Provide IP transactional support for business transactions, clinical agreements, collaborative research agreements, and license and acquisition agreements
• Manage the relationships and agreements with external legal counsel, and vendors

Qualifications and Preferred Skills 

• Advanced degree in chemical sciences with synthetic laboratory experience is required (Ph.D. organic chemistry is beneficial) 
• Law degree from an ABA-accredited law school 
• Admitted to the bar of at least one U.S. State or the District of Columbia 
• Registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) 
• 15 - 25 years of professional legal experience as a patent professional (e.g., patent agent or patent attorney, etc.) 
• Prior experiences as a member of an in-house legal team in a pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, or biotechnology company, including management of complex patent portfolio and pharmaceutical product support
• Experience supporting a clinical asset from phase 3 through product launch is strongly preferred
• Direct experience in supporting ANDA litigation is also preferred
• Experience in proprietary name selection and trademark clearance is a plus