Senior Counsel, IP

SandboxAQ; United States; Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully remote work

Flexible paid time off

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Retirement savings with company match

Job summary

SandboxAQ's legal team seeks a Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property to own strategy and development of our IP function. You will lead patent portfolio management, partner with scientists and engineers to identify patentable work, manage outside firms, and guide freedom-to-operate analyses to inform product strategy and partnerships.

This early hire will build a forward-thinking IP program in a fast-growing company, shaping how we protect innovations while enabling business growth.

Qualifications

• J.D. or equivalent and bar admission in at least one U.S. jurisdiction are required.
• 7+ years of substantive intellectual property law experience with a focus on patent law.
• Strong technical fluency to engage credibly with PhD scientists and ML researchers.
• Strategic and agile to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Collaborative with the ability to translate complex legal concepts into business strategy.

Responsibilities

• Own the patent portfolio end to end including filing strategy and prosecution management.
• Partner with scientists and engineers to identify patentable work early and drive invention disclosure.
• Direct outside patent firms and foreign associates on quality and cost.
• Run freedom-to-operate and clearance analyses to inform product strategy and transactions.
• Build and maintain a broader IP program including trade secrets and trademark clearance.

Skills

Patent law expertise

Patent portfolio management

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic thinking

Strong communication

Education

Juris Doctor (J.D.) or equivalent

Admission to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction

STEM degree valued

Job description

At SandboxAQ, we are committed to competitive, equitable, and transparent compensation; we continuously benchmark our salaries and total compensation to premium markets to ensure our competitiveness. Individual pay within the above range is determined by job-related skills, experience, education, and geographic location.

With a focus on pay equity and ensuring opportunity for future salary progression, our typical practice is to hire within the first half of the base salary range for a given role and level. This approach allows us to reward performance and increasing expertise consistently as your career develops with us.

We use geographic pay tiers to reflect the pay differences in local markets:
For the US:

Tier 1: Applies to candidates within 50 miles of New York, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Wash D.C., Boston

Tier 2: Applies to candidates within 50 miles of Portland, Boulder, Austin, Denver, Chicago, San Diego, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, LA

Tier 3: Everywhere else in the US

For the UK:

Tier 1: Applies to candidates within 50 miles of London, Cambridge, Oxford

Tier 2: Everywhere else in the UK

For Canada:

Tier 1: Applies to candidates within 50 miles of Toronto & Vancouver

Tier 2: Everywhere else in Canada

About SandboxAQ

SandboxAQ is a high-growth company delivering AI solutions that address some of the world's greatest challenges. The company’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) power advances in life sciences, financial services, navigation, cybersecurity, and other sectors.

We are a global team that is tech-focused and includes experts in AI, chemistry, cybersecurity, physics, mathematics, medicine, engineering, and other specialties. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. as an independent, growth capital-backed company in 2022, funded by leading investors and supported by a braintrust of industry leaders.

At SandboxAQ, we’ve cultivated an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and impact. By investing deeply in our people, we’re building a thriving, global workforce poised to tackle the world's epic challenges. Join us to advance your career in pursuit of an inspiring mission, in a community of like‑minded people who value entrepreneurialism, ownership, and transformative impact.

The Opportunity

SandboxAQ’s legal team supports the business by protecting the company’s innovations and enabling growth while mitigating legal risk. The team embodies curiosity, collaboration, and creative problem-solving and works closely with business, finance, general managers, R&D leadership, and other cross-functional teams.

The legal team is looking for a Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property to join our team. This person will own the strategy and development of our IP function alongside our IP executive business sponsor. As an early legal hire, this person will play a key role in building a forward-thinking, business-savvy, dynamic legal team. Among other things, the role will focus on owning our patent portfolio end to end, partnering directly with scientists and engineers to identify patentable work, managing outside patent firms, informing product strategy and launches through freedom-to-operate and clearance analyses, and serving as the IP voice in commercial, collaboration, and corporate transactions.

Key Responsibilities

• Own our patent portfolio end to end, including invention harvesting, filing strategy, prosecution management, and lifecycle decisions on continuations, abandonments, and annuities.
• Partner directly with scientists and engineers — including PhD physicists, chemists, and ML researchers — to identify patentable work early, run invention disclosure and review, and create an efficient and high-value end-to-end cycle with inventors.
• Direct and hold accountable outside patent firms and foreign associates on quality, cost, and timeliness.
• Run freedom-to-operate and clearance analyses to inform and shape product strategy and launches, and serve as the IP voice in commercial, collaboration, and corporate transactions.
• Build and maintain our broader IP program, including our trade secret program and trademark clearance, prosecution, and enforcement across our product brands, while working cross-functionally to craft legal strategies that fuel growth while mitigating risk.
• Juris Doctor (J.D.) or equivalent law degree, with admission to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• 7+ years of substantive intellectual property law experience, with significant depth and expertise in patent law.
• Strong technical fluency, with the ability to engage credibly and effectively with PhD-level physicists, chemists, machine learning researchers, and other technical experts.
• Strategic and agile, with the ability to thrive in fast-paced, high-growth environments where smart, rapid decision-making is essential.
• Collaborative and high EQ, with the ability to build relationships across diverse teams and translate complex legal concepts into actionable business strategies.

Highly Desired Skills & Experience

• A combination of in-house and Big Law experience is strongly preferred.
• USPTO registration / patent bar admission is preferred.
• An undergraduate or graduate degree in a STEM field — physics, chemistry, computer science, electrical engineering, or similar — is strongly valued.
• Experience with AI/ML, life sciences, or computational chemistry subject matter, including Section 101 eligibility strategy for software and algorithmic inventions.
• Experience or interest in building an IP program from an early stage rather than inheriting a mature one. Experience with government-funded contracts, trade secret program design, litigation or contested-proceeding exposure (IPR, PGR, oppositions), and demonstrated use of or specific interest in AI tooling to accelerate legal work — including prior art review, disclosure drafting, portfolio analytics, docket triage, and outside counsel work product review — are also valued.

Why Join Us?

• We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your health, financial well-being, and life outside of work.
• Career Defining Work: Your work will directly accelerate the discovery of better drugs and better materials, advance human health, and enable safer and more sustainable technologies by helping customers put AI Simulation capabilities into real world use.
• Compensation: Competitive base salary, performance-based incentives or bonuses (where applicable), and equity participation.
• Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents with generous employer premium contributions, retirement savings with company matching, paid parental leave, and inclusive family-building benefits.
• Work-Life Balance: Fully remote, Flexible paid time off, company-wide seasonal breaks, and support for flexible work arrangements that enable sustainable performance.
• Learning and Growth: Opportunities for continuous learning and growth through on-the-job development, cross-functional collaboration, and access to internal learning and development programs.

SandboxAQ Welcomes All

We are committed to fostering a culture of belonging and respect, where diverse perspectives are actively sought and valued. Our multidisciplinary environment provides ample opportunity for continuous growth - working alongside humble, empowered, and ambitious colleagues ready to tackle epic challenges.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.

Accommodations: We provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in job application procedures for open roles. If you need such an accommodation, please let a member of our Recruiting team know.

Get updates on how SandboxAQ can power your organization.