Team Lead/Manager — AI & IP Innovation - Biotech

Purpose

Lead complex patent intelligence engagements across Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences, and Healthcare technologies, while guiding research teams and leveraging agentic AI workflows to deliver reproducible, defensible insights and strategic outcomes for clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Define research strategy and execution approach for complex patent intelligence engagements across biotechnology and pharmaceutical technologies.
• Design and optimize AI-assisted search workflows and prompt strategies.
• Lead large-scale novelty, patentability, invalidation, freedom-to-operate, opposition, and patent landscape projects.
• Oversee development of claim-element mappings and Evidence of Use (EoU) with precise technical and patent citations.
• Interpret complex patent claims, patent families, CPC/IPC classifications, sequence-related disclosures, Markush structures, and citation networks.
• Conduct and supervise technical searches across patent and non-patent literature, including scientific publications, clinical literature, regulatory sources, sequence databases, and product-related information.
• Validate AI-generated results through expert scientific and technical review.
• Prepare and review client-ready sections including methodology, sources, findings, claim analysis, and strategic conclusions.
• Ensure research outputs are scientifically accurate, reproducible, and legally defensible.
• Improve prompt libraries, search methodologies, and quality assurance frameworks for biotechnology and pharmaceutical research.
• Lead and mentor a team of strategists and senior strategists, providing scientific guidance and reviewing research outputs.
• Allocate research tasks, monitor project progress, and ensure high-quality deliverables.
• Support client discussions by translating complex scientific and patent findings into clear strategic insights.

Must-have

• 6–10+ years of experience in patent research, IP analytics, or patent intelligence within Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences, or related technologies.
• Proven expertise in novelty searches, invalidation studies, freedom-to-operate analysis, patent landscapes, claim charts, and drafting support.
• Strong understanding of patent claims, patent families, classification systems, sequence searching, Markush structures, and citation analysis.
• Ability to understand and analyze complex scientific disclosures across biologics, pharmaceuticals, molecular biology, and life sciences.
• Experience leading research teams and managing complex client projects.
• Excellent analytical thinking, scientific interpretation, and technical writing skills.

Patent & IP Expertise

• Advanced experience in patent research including novelty, invalidation, FTO, opposition, landscapes, and claim charts.
• Expertise in interpreting patent claims, families, CPC/IPC classifications, prosecution histories, and citation networks.
• Experience analyzing composition-of-matter, formulation, method-of-treatment, dosage regimen, biomarker, biologics, process, and platform technology claims.
• Understanding of Markush claims, chemical structures, biological sequences, antibodies, proteins, nucleic acids, and sequence identity-based claims.
• Familiarity with global patent databases such as USPTO, EPO, WIPO Patentscope, Google Patents, and Espacenet.
• Familiarity with scientific and life-sciences databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, NCBI, UniProt, BLAST, ClinicalTrials.gov, and regulatory databases.
• Ability to review and guide claim-element mapping and Evidence of Use (EoU) aligned with patent and scientific evidence standards.
• Experience supporting litigation, licensing, due diligence, competitive intelligence, or portfolio strategy engagements.

Education Background

• Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacy, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Biomedical Sciences, Life Sciences, or related fields.
• PhD or advanced specialization may be preferred for highly technical biotechnology or pharmaceutical engagements.

Strong understanding of:

• Molecular biology and genetics
• Biochemistry and cell biology
• Recombinant DNA and gene technologies
• Proteins, antibodies, peptides, and biologics
• Genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics
• Pharmaceutical formulations and drug delivery systems
• Pharmacology and drug development
• Small-molecule and biologic therapeutics
• Vaccines and immunology
• Cell and gene therapies
• Diagnostics, biomarkers, and personalized medicine
• Fermentation, bioprocessing, and biologics manufacturing
• Clinical development and regulatory concepts

Tools — Examples

• AI & agentic: ChatGPT / Claude / Gemini; orchestration tools; prompt libraries; evaluation sets
• Patent: Google Patents, Espacenet, Patentscope, USPTO, EPO
• Scientific/NPL: PubMed, Google Scholar, NCBI, UniProt, BLAST, ClinicalTrials.gov
• Other: Sequence-search tools, chemical/biological databases, translators, spreadsheets, visualization and reporting tools

KPIs

• Project delivery quality and audit pass-rate
• Turnaround time adherence across engagements
• Scientific and technical accuracy of research outputs
• Defensibility and reproducibility of patent research findings
• Team mentoring effectiveness and peer-review quality
• Contributions to biotechnology/pharma research playbooks and AI-enabled workflows
• Client satisfaction and engagement outcomes

Levelling Notes

Lead - AI & IP Innovation (Team Leader):

Leads biotechnology/pharma patent research projects, including patentability, FTO, invalidation, landscaping and competitive intelligence studies. Guides and mentors a team of strategists, conducts quality reviews, translates client requirements into clear project scope and methodology, and ensures timely, high-quality delivery.

Manager – AI & IP Innovation (Biotechnology):

Owns a portfolio of biotechnology/pharma engagements and manages multiple research teams and team leads. Acts as the senior point of contact for key clients, drives technical and commercial proposals, and handles the most complex scientific and patent matters. Contributes to practice growth, capability building, and the development of AI-enabled IP research methodologies.

Service Scope

Novelty/Patentability, Invalidation/Opposition, Freedom-to-Operate, Claim Charts/EoU, Drafting Support, Patent Landscapes, Sequence & Structure-Based Patent Searching, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Licensing Support, and IP Strategy programs.