Program Manager, Technology Partnership Development

Activate; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Copper is hiring a Program Manager to run the operational core of our business development and licensing efforts, coordinating the partnership pipeline, tracking deals, researching prospects, supporting negotiations, and keeping leadership informed.

This role also helps coordinate our patent portfolio—disclosures, prosecutions, and linking to active or prospective deals—emphasizing execution over strategy or senior negotiations.

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years of experience in licensing, partnerships, and/or IP/patent operations in hardware/electronics.
• Fluency with a range of licensing structures.
• Experience preparing pitch materials for potential business partners.
• Ability to translate between engineers, lawyers, and business teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, or related technical field.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate the partnership and licensing deal pipeline—tracking active conversations, deal status, next steps, and deadlines across BD efforts.
• Research potential customers, partners, licensees, and licensors; prepare briefing materials and target lists for leadership.
• Support negotiations by preparing materials, tracking deal terms, and coordinating redlines with outside counsel.
• Manage deal logistics (NDAs, meeting coordination, data room management) across BD activity.
• Maintain licensing program tracking: royalty payments and license compliance.
• Coordinate with Finance on royalty invoicing, revenue recognition, and forecasting.
• Track and report on program-wide metrics (pipeline health, deal velocity, revenue) for leadership visibility.
• Support invention harvesting by coordinating with engineering teams and helping capture invention disclosures.
• Track patent applications through prosecution—deadlines, office actions, and continuation/divisional opportunities— with outside counsel.
• Maintain the internal portfolio map and its connection to deals.
• Help prepare claim charts and technical summaries used in licensing discussions.
• Build and maintain dashboards across BD and patent activities for leadership view.
• Manage relationships and follow-ups with external partners.
• Identify and implement process improvements as functions grow.

Skills

Licensing & partnerships

Pitch materials

Technical & legal translation

Cross-functional collaboration

Engineering/Physics background

Education

Bachelors in EE/Mechanical/Physics or related

Job description

Overview

At Copper, we're reinventing home appliances for an electrified future. Our products come equipped with batteries, accelerating electrification and turning every customer home into a source of grid flexibility.

We're hiring a Program Manager to run the operational core of our business development and licensing efforts. The primary focus of this role is coordinating our partnership pipeline and licensing program — tracking deals, researching prospects, supporting negotiations, and keeping leadership informed. As a secondary responsibility, you'll also help coordinate the activities of our strong, growing patent portfolio (invention disclosures, prosecution tracking) so that what we protect and what we license or partner around stay connected.

This is an execution and coordination role, not a strategy-setting or senior-negotiator role. Because you'll be evaluating technical fit with potential partners and licensees, and occasionally reading patent claims against hardware designs, a solid technical background in our domain is required, not just a nice-to-have.

We value diversity and are committed to building a team that reflects a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. We’re especially focused on fostering an inclusive workplace where everyone can contribute to our shared mission.

This is a full-time position and it is expected to be in-office 4 days per week with 1 day flexible for in-office or remote work. Our office is located in Berkeley, CA.

What you'll do

Business Development & Licensing (primary focus)

• Coordinate the partnership and licensing deal pipeline — tracking active conversations, deal status, next steps, and deadlines across business development efforts


• Research potential customers, partners, licensees, and licensors; prepare briefing materials and target lists for leadership


• Support negotiations by preparing materials, tracking deal terms, and coordinating redlines with outside counsel


• Manage deal logistics (NDAs, meeting coordination, data room management) across business development activity


• Maintain licensing program tracking: royalty payments and license compliance


• Coordinate with Finance on royalty invoicing, revenue recognition, and forecasting


• Track and report on program-wide metrics (pipeline health, deal velocity, revenue) for leadership visibility

Patents (secondary focus)

• Support invention harvesting by coordinating with engineering teams and helping capture invention disclosures


• Track patent applications through prosecution — deadlines, office actions, and continuation/divisional opportunities — in coordination with outside patent counsel


• Maintain the internal portfolio map (what's filed, issued, pending) and how it connects to active or prospective deals


• Help prepare claim charts and technical summaries used in licensing or partnership discussions

Cross-cutting

• Build and maintain shared tracking systems and dashboards across business development workstreams and patent portfolio activities so leadership has one clear view of program status


• Manage relationships and follow-ups with external partners as needed


• Identify and implement process improvements as these functions grow and formalize


• Prepare research, analysis, and materials that support senior leadership in strategy discussions and negotiations

What you'll bring

Technical expertise

• 3–5+ years of experience in some combination of licensing, partnerships, &/or IP/patent operations, ideally in a hardware or electronics environment


• Fluency and experience with a range of licensing structures


• Experience preparing pitch materials for potential business partners


• Comfortable working with technical and legal material (partnership/license agreements, patent claims); able to translate between engineers and legal/business counterparts fluently


• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, or a related technical field

Technical expertise (nice-to-have)

• Legal training in patent law and/or licensing


• Advanced engineering degree

Communication and cross-functional collaboration

• Clear and effective verbal and written communication skills


• Ease in working cross-functionally with all departments and all levels of the company


• Strong organization and coordination skills


• Track record managing multiple concurrent workstreams and deadlines across different stakeholders


• Ability to communicate in multiple languages (nice-to-have)

Joy and passion for work

• Comfort in an always-changing start-up environment


• Willing to step into whatever project or situation needs your assistance


• Calm under pressure. You bring clarity when things get chaotic.


• Comfortable operating in a program that spans multiple functions and isn't fully standardized yet


• Low ego, high accountability. You collaborate cross-functionally with openness.


• Mission-driven. You care about electrification and building products that truly serve customers.

Location

This is an in-office role that is on site four days with 1 day flexible for in-office or remote work. Our office is located in Berkeley, CA.

Compensation & Benefits

The salary range for this role is $160,000-$190,000. We are committed to equitable compensation and we offer a generous benefits package to make sure you have the support you need.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We are committed to creating an equitable and inclusive environment for all our employees and are seeking to build a team that reflects the diversity of the people we hope to serve with our products. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

About Us

Copper's vision is a future where every home is electrified with abundant clean energy. Our mission is to make decarbonization accessible to everyone by selling electric home appliances that enrich their daily lives. We're reducing the cost of electrification by integrating batteries into household appliances, starting with the stove. Our work has been funded by the Department of Energy, in an effort to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and increase energy resilience with products that are high-performance, safe, intuitive, and robust. As we build our team and pursue our mission, we do it with a strong sense of our core values because it's not just what you do, it's how you do it. You'll see this in high-level decisions, how we run meetings, our day-to-day work, hiring, and our interactions with customers and the broader community. We intend to have a massive impact on our team, our neighborhood, and the world.