Senior Patent & IP Counsel

Lyten; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Lyten seeks a Patent & IP Counsel to build and lead its intellectual property function, focusing on patent strategy, hands-on drafting and prosecution, and IP diligence across battery, concrete, composites, and sensors. This role combines hands-on work with strategic management and requires close collaboration with product and engineering teams to shape patent strategy aligned with Lyten's roadmap.

The ideal candidate has a J.D.

Qualifications

• J.D. and active license to practice law in at least one U.S. state; USPTO registration required.
• 7+ years of IP experience, including drafting and prosecuting patent applications and setting filing strategy.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive Lyten's overall patent strategy and filing prioritization, aligned with product roadmap.
• Lead patent claim strategy with FTO and infringement analyses for new products and acquisitions.
• Review invention disclosures and sharpen disclosures with inventors/engineers for prosecution.
• Manage yearly patent and IP budget; oversee outside patent counsel and docket across jurisdictions.
• Maintain and curate patent portfolio hygiene, including documentation and diligence readiness.
• Negotiate IP provisions in agreements, including ownership, licensing, and publication terms.
• Lead IP diligence for acquisitions, resolving chain-of-title gaps and licensing ambiguities.
• Advise on trademark strategy, trade secrets, and IP aspects of employment/contractor agreements.
• Coordinate with internal counsel on licensing IP issues and manage external IP resources.

Skills

Patent drafting

FTO analysis

Licensing agreements

Docket management

Invention disclosures review

Education

J.D. degree

Science/Engineering degree

Tools

IP docketing software

Job description

Lyten is leading an industrial revolution through Lyten 3D Graphene, a breakthrough supermaterial unlocking a new generation of products - from lithium-sulfur batteries and energy storage systems to concrete admixtures, lightweight composites, and next-generation sensors that are revolutionizing industries. Together, these innovations are making a massive global improvement and driving real-world impact across energy, mobility, construction, and defense.

At Lyten, we believe the most meaningful careers begin with purpose - and with people who want to make a difference. We're not just developing advanced supermaterials - we're about to change the world as we know it, reshaping how energy is stored, how products are built, and how progress is made.

We're entering an exciting growth phase, scaling production across the U.S. and Europe and expanding our team of engineers, scientists, and innovators.

Lyten is seeking to hire its first Patent & IP Counsel to build and lead the company's intellectual property function, with a focus on patent strategy, hands-on drafting and prosecution, and IP diligence across the company's product groups, including battery, concrete, composites, and sensors. This is both a manager and a practitioner role: Lyten is looking for someone who will personally do some of the work of protecting its IP, not just direct outside counsel, as well as strategically manage and grow the company’s patent and IP portfolio. This person will operate as an embedded business partner to product and engineering teams, not solely as a service provider, staying close enough to the technology and roadmap to shape patent strategy proactively and in accordance with the company’s core business objectives and strategic plans.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and drive Lyten's overall patent strategy and filing prioritization, developing technical fluency in Lyten's product lines and engaging with engineering and product teams on a recurring cadence to align decisions with the roadmap and competitive landscape.
• Lead the company's patent claim strategy with an eye toward the competitive landscape, and conduct or oversee freedom-to-operate (FTO) and infringement analyses for new products and acquisition targets.
• Review and triage invention disclosures, determine what merits filing, and work directly with inventors/engineers to sharpen disclosures before moving to prosecution.
• Develop and manage Lyten's yearly patent and IP budget. Manage outside patent counsel and the patent prosecution docket across relevant jurisdictions; negotiate fee arrangements and control cost and quality of the outside IP spend.
• Own patent portfolio strategy and hygiene: prune low-value applications and patents, maintain the IP docketing/management system, and keep the portfolio properly documented, assigned, and diligence-ready.
• Review and negotiate certain complex IP provisions in commercial, collaboration, and research agreements, including ownership, licensing, and publication terms.
• Lead IP diligence on acquisitions and asset purchases, including resolving chain-of-title gaps and licensing ambiguities arising from M&A integration.
• Advise on trademark strategy and enforcement, trade secret protection programs, and IP aspects of employment and contractor agreements (invention assignment, moral rights, and other jurisdiction-specific issues) across the business.
• Coordinate with internal counsel on customer, supplier, and licensing IP issues, and manage the IP Consultant relationship and other outside IP resources, escalating specialized questions to outside counsel.
• Lean into legal matters outside core IP scope as needed to support the broader legal team given its lean size.

Required Qualifications

• J.D. and active license to practice law in at least one U.S. state; registration to practice before the USPTO required.
• 7+ years of IP experience, including personally drafting and prosecuting patent applications and setting patent filing strategy and prioritization (not just executing on an existing docket), with a track record as a practicing drafter rather than solely an outside-counsel manager, in-house or at a law firm supporting a technology/materials/hardware company.
• Bachelor's degree in a relevant scientific/engineering discipline (materials science, chemistry, electrical engineering, or similar), given Lyten's battery and materials technology.
• Demonstrated experience in competitive claim drafting and freedom-to-operate (FTO) or infringement analysis.
• Experience with IP diligence in M&A or asset-purchase contexts.
• Strong drafting skills for licensing, collaboration, and confidentiality agreements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Comfort using AI-assisted tools across the IP workflow, including invention identification, prior art/FTO search, drafting, and portfolio analytics.
• Master's degree or Ph.D. in a relevant scientific/engineering discipline.
• Experience supporting an IP at a rapidly scaling company.
• Experience with battery, energy storage, or advanced materials patent portfolios.
• Experience with cross-border IP issues in international jurisdictions.
• Experience with trademark prosecution and opposition proceedings before the USPTO.
• Familiarity with an IP management/docketing platform (e