Intellectual Property Attorney

Overview

Strategic IP attorney managing patents, trade secrets, and contracts for a fusion startup

Key Responsibilities

• patent portfolio
• ip due diligence
• contract management
• clm tools
• trade secret
• legal playbooks

Tasks

-Draft, review, and negotiate IP-related agreements, including NDAs, joint development agreements, licenses, and collaboration agreements. -Conduct IP due diligence for potential partners, vendors, and acquisitions. -Stay current on IP laws, regulations, and trends relevant to advanced energy and high-tech industries. -Build and maintain a global patent portfolio aligned with our business and technology priorities: including preparation, filing, and prosecution. -Manage and improve our day-to-day contracting processes, including negotiation of NDAs, purchase orders, and larger procurement agreements. -Work with and direct counsel on preparation, filing, and prosecution. -Work closely with technical and business leadership, outside counsel, contract counterparties, potential investors, and key business partners. -Monitor and enforce company rights, including managing disputes, oppositions, or litigation, working with external counsel. -Support and lead negotiation of FOAK commercial agreements, joint ventures, and government transactions. -Build legal playbooks, training regimes, and select & implement CLM and AI tools to support commercial procurements, working closely with our technical & supply chain teams. -Develop and execute strategies to identify, protect, and enforce the company’s hard and soft IP assets. -Update our company’s trade secret management plan, and deploy policies & practices to efficiently protect our trade secrets and improve IP security. -Partner with our R&D and engineering teams to identify patentable innovations and draft invention disclosures. -Oversee external counsel and manage legal spend effectively.

Requirements

• 10+ years
• ip law
• j.d.
• bar admission
• physics
• procurement

What You Bring

-10+ years experience in intellectual property law or closely related fields, with a focus on patent portfolio development, IP transactions, and trade secret protection. -Background in physics, engineering, sciences, or related technical fields. -Strong business acumen and collaborative approach to working with technical and executive stakeholders. -Experience both in law firm and in-house environments. -Substantial experience supporting R&D-heavy organizations (energy, aerospace, semiconductors, or advanced manufacturing a plus). -Excellent technical & communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into legal arguments or strategies. -Signs of thought-leadership w/in the field (e.g., law review articles, blogs). -Significant experience advising on or leading procurement negotiations. -J.D. degree and admission to at least one U.S. state bar.

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Benefits

-6% employer 401k matching -Generous paid time off (including sick leave, vacation, paid family leave) -Industry-competitive salary -Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance -Equity plan

About Pacific Fusion

-Led by founders from NASA, DOE labs, and genomics—Eric Lander (co‑founder/CEO) and Keith LeChien (CTO) steer the technical vision. -They’re pioneering pulsed magnetic inertial fusion: stacking modular ‘bricks’ in Marx generators to drive fuel capsules to fusion. -Built in a 135k ft² San Leandro facility, the team of ~60 engineers and scientists is constructing full-scale pulser modules. -Collaborations with General Atomics and US national labs accelerate scaling and prototype testing. -Their demonstration system in Livermore targets research-grade operations ahead of commercial rollouts. -By focusing on mass‑manufacturable modules and affordable supply chains, they aim to bring fusion to market within a decade.

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