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Patent Attorney/Agent

South San Francisco, CA 94080

Posted: 07/02/2026 Employment Type: Contract Industry: Legal Job Number: 12676 Pay Rate: $130.00 - $145.00 Remote Friendly: remote/hybrid

Job Description

Our client is a leading biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines to treat patients with serious or life-threatening medical conditions. They are among the world's leading biotech companies, with multiple products on the market and a promising development pipeline.


Key responsibilities of this role includes the following:
  • Managing Docket (Patent Preparation and Prosecution)
  • Driving strategic IP procurement and management of global intellectual property rights for individual large molecule (biopharmaceutical) candidates and products, including drafting and prosecuting patent portfolios, patentability assessments, freedom-to operate, and risk evaluation and mitigation strategies.
  • Managing and prosecuting active global dockets, including handling U.S. and foreign patent applications.
  • Rendering due diligence assessments, freedom-to-operate, and risk evaluation and mitigation strategies for individual program molecules, technologies, tools, and the like. Identifying and exploiting new strategic opportunities and approaches by leveraging a deep understanding of patent law.
  • Providing Advice and Counsel
  • Partnering effectively with relevant stakeholders at all levels and across all phases of research, drug development, and commercialization to provide clear, strategic business enabling strategies.
  • Maintaining and sharing expertise and knowledge on legal case law, rules, or regulations before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as well as other relevant jurisdictional IP offices.

Job Requirements

Key Competencies:
  • Key competencies of this role includes the following:
  • Exhibits solution-oriented mindset, clear communication, effective collaboration with members of the IP team and business stakeholders.
  • Tackles issues with curiosity and a growth-mindset, effectively utilizing available resources, and an enthusiastic willingness to listen and learn from others.
  • Excels in working independently and proactively with minimal direction, strong organizational skills, and ability to prioritize and balance competing projects and responsibilities in a fast-paced global organization.

Who You Are:
  • Qualifications and experience needed for this role include the following:
  • 4+ years of patent attorney/agent experience in life sciences patent prosecution, with majority of experience in patent application drafting and prosecution in a pharma/biotech corporate setting and/or representing such clients/matters in a law firm.
  • Admission to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) required.
  • A U.S. law degree (J.D.) and a current good standing admission to at least one U.S. state bar is required for attorney applicants.
  • An advanced degree in biological sciences such as biochemistry, molecular biology, or other areas relevant to biopharmaceutical IP practice. A Ph.D. is highly desired.
  • Demonstrated experience and track record of success in:
  • Building global IP portfolios for large molecule biopharmaceuticals (e.g., antibodies, peptides) in all stages of prosecution;
  • Designing and executing complex freedom-to-operate analyses across different technologies and different jurisdictions;
  • Developing and communicating actionable risk mitigation strategies
  • Besides large molecule experience, additional experience with small molecule global IP portfolios is a plus;
  • Experience in gene therapy, cell therapy, and RNA therapeutics is a plus.

Meet Your Recruiter

Jay Hite
Recruiter, Account Manager

As a Recruiter at Compass, Jay enjoys meeting job seekers and helping them to find new and exciting opportunities. He enjoys the process of getting to know candidates and learning all about their experience and what their future goals are. Jay feels the excitement of his candidates and is passionate about helping to find a fit both culturally and professionally. 

When Jay isn’t working, he enjoys bike rides, trying out new foods, tequila tasting and watching movies.  

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About South San Francisco, CA

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