IP Counsel

Flagship Pioneeringis a bioplatform innovation company that invents and builds platform companies that change the world. We bring together the greatest scientific minds with entrepreneurial company builders and assemble the capital to allow them to take courageous leaps. Those big leaps in human health and sustainability exponentially accelerate scientific progress in areas ranging from cancer detection and treatment to nature-positive agriculture.   

 What sets Flagship apart is our ability to advance biotechnology by uniting life science innovation, company creation, and capital investment under one roof in a way that is largely without precedent. Our scientific founders, entrepreneurial leaders, and professional capital managers are each aligned around an institutionalized process that enables us to innovate and transform for the benefit of people and planet.   

Many of the companies Flagship has founded have addressed humanity’s most urgent challenges: vaccinating billions of people against COVID-19, curing intractable diseases, improving human health, preempting illness, and feeding the world by improving the resiliency and sustainability of agriculture.  

Flagship has been recognized twice on FORTUNE’s “Change the World” list, an annual ranking of companies that have made a positive social and environmental impact through activities that are part of their core business strategies, and has been twice named to Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. 

Why Flagship?
At Flagship Pioneering, YOU get: inspiring leadership, great company culture, competitive compensation packages, best in class benefits, generous PTO, beautiful office space stocked with unlimited snacks and free lunch delivered daily, and impactful work with endless career growth.

POSITION SUMMARY:

Flagship Pioneering is seeking a savvy, creative, hands-on, Intellectual Property Counsel who will work closely with our Pioneering Business Units and cross-functional teams to help develop and execute comprehensive and global IP strategies to protect Flagship’s and its portfolio companies’ computational, bioengineering, AI, ML, and bioinformatics innovations.  The successful candidate has a passion for innovation, strong technical and patent skills in the computational arts, at least a basic understanding of multiple and varied life science technologies, proven patent portfolio development skills, and a demonstrated ability to think strategically.  This is an extremely interactive role that requires the ability to mine and identify innovations, guide and educate scientific teams, and communicate succinctly and clearly with both scientific and management teams.  

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Partner with business, science and other legal colleagues to provide strategic advice and direction related to the protection of Flagship’s computational, bioengineering, AI, ML, and bioinformatics innovations
• Invention mining, some patent preparation and prosecution, efficient management of outside counsel, and IP education.
• Provide counsel to, and operationally support, corporate and BD efforts with IP due diligence, competitive intelligence, licensing efforts, as needed.
• Provide general and directed IP education to company scientists and management.
• Work with science and management teams of portfolio companies to spot issues and work with Flagship legal team to enable effective and efficient resolutions.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Required: J.D. from an accredited law school and B.A. or B.S. in computer science, bioengineering, computational biology, bioinformatics, mathematics, or electrical engineering
• Required: 10+ years of patent practice, with 5 or more years in the area of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), deep learning, data sciences, computational biology, bioinformatics, and/or bioengineering
• Required: Admission to practice law in a U.S. jurisdiction, and registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• Required: Sophisticated understanding of intellectual property law and strategies for protection of computational and AI innovations
• Strongly Preferred: In-house experience in the biotech or pharmaceutical industry, or significant experience advising clients in biotech or pharma 
• Preferred: IP transactional and/or litigation experience a plus.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS:

• Flexible, personable team-player, comfortable in a fast-paced, small company environment, able to think “out-of-the-box” and proactively counsel clients on IP strategy and process
• Proven ability to set and meet ambitious deadlines, handle numerous multifaceted legal issues and see projects through to conclusion.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, and demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with both scientists and management.
• Ability to distill complexity and to communicate decisively with sound judgment.

Flagship Pioneering and our ecosystem companies are committed to equal employment opportunityregardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

At Flagship, we recognize there is no perfect candidate. If you have some of the experience listed above but not all, please apply anyway. Experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way. We are dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams and look forward to learning more about your unique background.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies:Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.

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