Executive Director, Assistant General Counsel, Intellectual Property

If you are a current Jazz employee please apply via the Internal Career site

Jazz Pharmaceuticals is a global biopharma company whose purpose is to innovate to transform the lives of patients and their families. We are dedicated to developing life-changing medicines for people with serious diseases — often with limited or no therapeutic options. We have a diverse portfolio of marketed medicines, including leading therapies for sleep disorders and epilepsy, and a growing portfolio of cancer treatments. Our patient-focused and science-driven approach powers pioneering research and development advancements across our robust pipeline of innovative therapeutics in oncology and neuroscience. Jazz is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with research and development laboratories, manufacturing facilities and employees in multiple countries committed to serving patients worldwide. Please visit www.jazzpharmaceuticals.com for more information.

Job Description

Overview

The Executive Director, Assistant General Counsel, Intellectual Property (IP) will be a key leader within the Jazz Global IP Function. Reporting directly to the VP of IP, the successful candidate will work to develop and implement global IP strategies for our products, product candidates and/or platform technologies and will serve as a key advisor to cross functional teams on a variety of IP related matters. The Executive Director, Assistant GC, IP will build effective relationships with relevant stakeholders at all levels of the global organization and across all phases of research, drug development & commercialization to provide clear, strategic business-enabling IP advice.  This position will supervise those team members responsible for day-to-day management and protection of our IP assets, particularly within the neuroscience area.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Responsible for developing and executing IP strategies for those assets primarily within the neuroscience area; Directly and indirectly supervise those IP team members supporting programs and projects within the neuroscience area.

• Build effective partnerships with relevant stakeholders at all levels of the global organization and across all phases of research, drug development & commercialization to provide clear, strategic business-enabling IP advice. 

• Identify opportunities to strengthen the company’s IP portfolio through engagement with project teams and collaboration partners and leveraging a deep understanding of patent law and the competitive landscape across the portfolio.

• Design & deliver impactful global IP portfolios from invention capture to patent issuance for individual programs and products.

• Strategically manage worldwide IP portfolios for both in-licensed and internally developed IP to maximize value and utility of IP assets, as assigned.

• Provide high level, independent IP support to Corporate Development on strategic collaborations and licensing agreements including conducting robust IP due diligence, preparing resulting analyses and providing meaningful input into relevant portions of transactional documents and negotiations.

• Render freedom-to-operate, infringement, validity analyses, risk evaluation, and mitigation strategies for individual programs, technologies, and tools.

• Effectively manage outside counsel in worldwide prosecution of patent applications, conducting IP assessments and other legal opinions and risk assessments.

• Counsel internal clients, including other members of the Legal Department and senior management, on intellectual property risks and opportunities in patentability, freedom-to-operate, infringement, validity, and regulatory exclusivity analyses.

• Educate and advise senior management & Jazz personnel on important IP issues and advance IP/patent awareness.

• Review publications, presentations, press releases and other materials for clearance.

• Advise on adversarial proceedings involving our products, product candidates, and platform technologies, including IP disputes, litigation, IPRs, PGRs and European/foreign Oppositions and similar matters.

• Actively lead and participate in department initiatives, identifying opportunities to enhance effectiveness of IP department practice and operations.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Fully qualified US or European Patent Attorney with 12+ years relevant IP experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with