Interim Head of Intellectual Property & Licensing – INTERNAL ONLY – Strand, London, WC2R 2LS

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

About us

We are inviting expressions of interest for the temporary position of Head of Intellectual Property (IP) & Licensing (IP&L). This role involves leading the operational activities of two teams:

• The existing team of seven IP & Licensing professionals responsible for identifying, prosecuting, marketing, and transacting IP assets from research conducted at King’s College London.
• A team of four IP Administration and Finance managers.

Responsibilities include providing interim operational leadership to the IP&L team, ensuring their performance and deliverables meet high standards. This involves collaborating with IP&L Managers to address complex issues related to due diligence, IP prosecution, monitoring, and commercialization, requiring detailed analysis of technical, contractual, stakeholder, and commercial factors.

Successful candidates will be expected to plan, execute, and report on their activities at a high-performance level, directly reporting to the Interim Director of King’s Innovation Catalyst. The Head of IP & Licensing will also liaise with the Assistant Principal (Innovation), the Entrepreneurship Institute, Vice Deans of Impact, and senior management as needed.

The ideal candidate will have significant experience in IP management and commercialisation, combining strong strategic and project management skills with diplomacy, negotiation abilities, and a commitment to exceptional quality standards in performance. They will relish collaborating both within King’s and with external partners, thriving in a dynamic and rapidly evolving environment.

About the role

The Head of Intellectual Property & Licensing is a broad role and encompasses a number of accountabilities. The following provides some of the specific accountabilities for this role but is not exhaustive.

• Provide leadership to the IP&L team to deliver a growth in the volume of new invention disclosures.
• Lead the team in assessing the commercial potential of IP opportunities, ensuring thorough reviews of scientific rationale, prior art, market size, ability to police, potential competition, and market penetration.
• Ensure IP&L Managers determine whether to seek IP protection for commercially viable opportunities.
• Support the team in prosecuting and maintaining IP, liaising with external patent attorneys, managing costs, and ensuring compliance with financial policies.
• Support the team in developing and presenting proposals on the commercial potential of IP opportunities to the IP Committee, ensuring that outcomes from the IP Committee are documented and any arising matters are addressed.
• Ensure King’s and third-party rights are protected during IP management or transactions, and support the negotiation and execution of agreements.
• Oversee data entry into IP management databases, produce progress reports, and ensure completion of statutory and internal reports by supporting the IP Admin team.
• Cultivate a culture of teamwork and collaboration by working closely within the IP&L team, the wider King’s Innovational Catalyst Department, and across King’s, ensuring seamless communication. Foster an inclusive and supportive work environment that encourages knowledge sharing and collective problem-solving.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

This is a part time 0.5FTE role.

This is a fixed term post until  31/12/25

…