Fixed Term – Maternity Leave Cover – In the event that the postholder on maternity leave returns earlier than expected, the duration of the contract will be adjusted accordingly.

The Royal College of Art, the world’s number one university for art and design, provides students with unrivalled opportunities to deliver art and design projects that transform the world.

lnnovationRCA, is the RCA’s start-up incubation and intellectual property commercialisation centre. According to a 2015 Higher Education Funding Council for England report, the RCA has created more university financed spin-outs with university ownership than any other university in the UK. To date lnnovationRCA has helped 102 graduates found 71 companies and these commercially successful companies have created more than 750 UK-based jobs, over £151m sales and exports.

We are looking for an outstanding Intellectual Property Manager to act as the College’s main authority on intellectual property (IP) issues in order to maximise the returns to the College and its students on IP generated at the College. The IP Manager will deliver IP training to teaching and research staff and to students; identify and assess the IP arising from technology, designs and processes created at the RCA; lead on the protection of IP; advise and support students and staff in relation to IP ownership and exploitation in agreements with third parties to protect the RCA’s ownership rights; act as the  first point of contact to resolve IP disputes, build a network of business support for IP development activities externally and a culture of IP awareness internally.

Given the prolifically inventive culture of the College and the significant number of patentable inventions made each year, the role requires significant student engagement and an ability to make complex patent matters comprehensible to students and would suit a candidate with strong interpersonal skills.

The ideal candidate will be educated to degree level in a science, law or business subject and have a very strong understanding and experience of legal agreements.  In addition:

• An excellent knowledge of the legal framework for IPR protection.
• A strong understanding of international IP protection and exploitation processes.
• A proven track record of writing and executing non-disclosure, collaboration and licencing agreements.
• Experience of developing and delivering training and workshops to groups of any size.
• Experience of working with student and academic staff inventors.
• Ability to act as an arbiter and authority on IP and an understanding of IP issues within Higher Education.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, both written and oral.
• Demonstrated ability to project manage, often with complex and conflicting priorities.

Interview and assessments are scheduled for 7 April 2021.