Patent Subject Matter Expert

MCGARITY CONSULTING GROUP; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 88,000 - 118,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work from home

Remote, contract engagement

Job summary

McGarity Consulting Group is seeking a patent professional to validate instructional content and qualify instructors for a federally funded training modernization project. You will ensure procedural and legal accuracy in course material and explain reasoning to instructional designers, not just confirm conformity.

The role is primarily remote, contract engagement, with on-boarding in a Federal environment, and a focus on MPEP-based standards, prior art searching, and collaboration with subject

Qualifications

• Patent examination or prosecution background documented on resume.
• Ability to work from the MPEP directly and identify deviations.
• Familiarity with US and foreign prior art searching and correspondence drafting.
• Ability to explain reasoning to non-specialists; not just confirmation.

Responsibilities

• Validate procedural and legal accuracy of course content during design review.
• Work with instructional designers as content is built, not after.
• Identify oversimplifications and burying of distinctions in content.
• Build and maintain the controlled terminology list for 125 courses.
• Qualify instructors on material and assess teach-backs.
• Serve as SME for escalated questions with timely turnaround.
• Advise on content requiring instructor presence vs. independent modules.

Skills

Patent examination

MPEP familiarity

Art prior searching

Explain examination reasoning

Public Trust eligibility

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

MPEP tools

Job description

About the role

McGarity Consulting Group is preparing to respond to a contingent federal program to modernize the training that prepares new hires to become patent examiners. The program covers revision of a 125-course curriculum, conversion of roughly 25 of those courses into interactive eLearning, and instructor‑led delivery to new examiner cohorts.

You validate that what our instructional designers build is procedurally correct before it reaches the client, and you qualify the instructors who will teach it.

The client furnishes its own subject matter experts and retains final approval authority on legal and procedural accuracy. Your role is to check our work on our side of the table. Content that reaches a Government reviewer with procedural errors affects costs and the schedule, and your expertise prevents that.

We are looking for a patent professional who can tell an instructional designer why a distinction matters. If you have examined applications or prosecuted them, and you can explain the reasoning rather than only the rule, this role was written for you.

Required qualifications

These are mandatory. Each must be documented on the resume at the time you apply.

1. Patent examination or prosecution background. One of the following:
   • Service as a patent examiner, including the technology center and grade or series you reached, or
   • Active registration to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a patent attorney or patent agent, with your registration number stated
2. Working command of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. You should be able to work from the MPEP directly rather than from secondary summaries, and to identify where a training statement departs from it.
3. Practical familiarity with the examination workflow, including prior art searching across United States and foreign patent literature, drafting correspondence to applicants, and case management from filing through disposition.
4. Ability to explain examination reasoning to a non‑specialist. You will spend most of your time with instructional designers who are expert in learning and not in patent law. A candidate who can only confirm or reject content, without explaining the basis, is not a fit for this role.
5. Eligibility for a Public Trust determination and a Federal background investigation. No security clearance is required. Onboarding typically runs two to four weeks and depends on how quickly you respond to requests.
6. Bachelor's degree at minimum

What you will do

• Validate the procedural and legal accuracy of course content at design review, before development begins, and again before publication
• Work alongside instructional designers as content is built, rather than reviewing finished drafts at the end
• Identify where a draft over‑simplifies a distinction an examiner must hold, and where it buries one in unnecessary detail
• Build and maintain the controlled terminology list that governs every course in the curriculum, so that terminology does not drift across 125 courses and multiple designers
• Qualify instructors on the material before they teach it, including assessing teach‑backs
• Serve as the subject matter expert of record for questions escalated from the classroom, with a committed turnaround back to the full cohort
• Advise on which content requires an instructor present, which supports independent practice in a tool, and which can be carried by short asynchronous modules

Preferred qualifications

• Service as a primary examiner, a supervisory patent examiner, or a trainer within a patent office
• Experience teaching or training examiners, practitioners, or law students
• Familiarity with the search and case management tools used inside a patent office
• Experience developing or reviewing training content, in any subject
• A technical or scientific degree in the fields where patent applications concentrate
• Experience working under a Federal contract, and familiarity with how Government review and approval cycles run

Engagement terms

Structure. Contract engagement.

Location. Primarily remote. Occasional travel may be required for instructor qualification sessions.

CONTINGENCY ONLY

No solicitation has been issued, and no contract exists. The client is conducting market research

Compensation: $75 per hour

Flexible work from home options available.