Sandia National Laboratories is the nation’s premier science and engineering lab for national security and technology innovation, with teams of specialists focused on cutting-edge work in a broad array of areas. Some of the main reasons we love our jobs:

• Challenging work with amazing impact that contributes to security, peace, and freedom worldwide
• Extraordinary co-workers
• Some of the best tools, equipment, and research facilities in the world
• Career advancement and enrichment opportunities
• Flexible work arrangements for many positions include 9/80 (work 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off) and 4/10 (work 4 ten-hour days each week) compressed workweeks, part-time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)
• Generous vacations, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, learning opportunities, relocation assistance and amenities aimed at creating a solid work/life balance*

World-changing technologies. Life-changing careers. Learn more about Sandia at: http://www.sandia.gov
*These benefits vary by job classification.

We are seeking a Senior Managing Counsel to lead Sandia’s Intellectual Property Law team.  Your team, which includes senior counsel, counsel, paralegals, and administrative support, advises, and serves NTESS, LLC on the full range of intellectual property matters affecting a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managing and operating a national laboratory, including mitigation of intellectual property risk, patent prosecution matters, drafting of patent and trademark applications, intellectual property reviews, and licensing and research agreements. 

As the Senior Managing Counsel of the Legal Technology Transfer team, you will be called upon to:

• Lead, manage, and mentor a team of attorneys and legal professionals within the organization including hiring, professional development, and performance management.
• Advise other attorneys and all levels of management on matters involving intellectual property law.
• Manage litigation and oversee litigation budgets and strategy.
• Interact with the broader DOE/NNSA community to represent and advocate for NTESS, LLC’s interests in service of Sandia’s overall mission.
• Provide advice and counsel on patent prosecution matters, including patentability of inventions, obviousness, prior art, and scope of patent claims.
• Prepare, file, and prosecute patent applications to obtain the broadest possible protection for Sandia's inventions, consistent with Sandia’s business needs. 
• Counsel, advise, and support licensing and technology transfer staff in transactional matters.
• Provide legal advice on agreements pertaining to intellectual property, including patent and copyright license agreements and other technology transfer agreements.
• Advise on patentability of inventions developed by Sandia.
• Monitor and review Sandia publications for creation of statutory bar dates for Sandia inventions.
• Coordinate discussions with line management, technical staff, and technology transfer staff to select and prioritize invention disclosures and efficiently support Sandia’s business needs.
• Coordinate joint patent applications with co-inventing outside organizations.
• Render opinions regarding possible patent infringements.
• Provide legal guidance on organizational conflict of interests, and technical personal conflict of interests.

Due to the nature of the work, the selected applicant must be able to work onsite.

• Law degree from an ABA accredited law school and active bar membership.
• Excellent academic qualifications with 12 or more years of law firm and/or in-house experience in licensing and technology transfer as well as patent prosecution.
• Ability to acquire and maintain a DOE-Q-level security clearance along with an SCI clearance, which may require a polygraph test.

• Five or more years of managerial experience including leading and directing attorneys and legal staff.
• Ability to foster a culture of inclusion and take an active leadership role in modeling and growing values in diversity, equality, and inclusion.
• Strong emotional intelligence and the ability to act as an ambassador and leader within the intellectual property law area for Sandia across the DOE/NNSA complex.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks and changing priorities, mediate conflict, and apply leadership concepts and techniques.
• Registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office 
• Recent and relevant technical and legal background, including preparation and prosecution experience in engineering, mathematics, biological sciences, or computer sciences.
• Knowledge of federal law and U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration policies, procedures, and orders regarding management of patent, copyright, technical data, technology transfer agreements, and acquisition policies and procedures.
• Knowledge of contractual mechanisms, including cooperative research and development agreements, strategic partnerships programs, licenses and options, statements of work, user facility, and non-disclosure agreements.
• Skill in and knowledge of the concepts and processes involved in preparing for negotiations, conducting negotiations, and counseling a client regarding developments and options in a negotiation.
• Knowledge of the tools of legal research and the ability to devise and implement coherent and effective legal research plans.
• Knowledge of software applications and technologies used in a technologically sophisticated law office.
• Ability to identify legal exposures to business goals that are broader than the exposures implicit in the literal scope of a request for legal advice.
• Integrative thinker with proven ability to tackle complex, multi-faceted problems with due consideration for business and strategic consequences.
• Ability to distill complex legal issues down into succinct, actionable advice and analyses for internal client representatives and stakeholders.
• Ability to engage in quantitative risk analysis and communicate advice in a manner that is maximally useful to clients.
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with all levels of internal and external customers, including the ability to build and manage effective working relationships.
• Demonstrated ability to act as a trusted advisor to enabling clients, constituents, and colleagues to engage in appropriately risk-informed decisions.

Division 11000’s purpose is to enable Sandia to accomplish its mission and effectively manage legal, regulatory, and contractual risk.  Our vision is to lead the Complex in the quality and value of the advice and solutions we provide.  Our mission is to deliver clear, actionable, and high-value legal, regulatory, and contractual advice and solutions in service to Sandia.  The Intellectual Property Law Center provides legal counsel and advice, protects IP, mitigates risk and works to enable corporate IP strategies.

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of seven (7) calendar days, including the ‘posting date’. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

Sandia is required by DOE to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants for employment need to be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance and SCI access, both of which require US citizenship. SCI access may also require a polygraph examination. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain these levels of access may be impacted.

Applicants offered employment with Sandia are subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by the DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status and any other protected class under state or federal law.

If you have a Medical Portable Electronic Device (MedPED), such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, drug-releasing pump, hearing aids, or diagnostic equipment and other equipment for measuring, monitoring, and recording body functions such as heartbeat and brain waves, if employed by Sandia National Laboratories you may be required to comply with NNSA security requirements for MedPEDs.  

If you have a MedPED and you are selected for an on-site interview at Sandia National Laboratories, there may be additional steps necessary to ensure compliance with NNSA security requirements prior to the interview date.