US Patent Attorney, Sr. Patent Counsel, Program Strategy & Development

argenx; Oregon; Hybrid; USD 252,000 - 347,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Incentive programs

Health benefits

Retirement plan

Job summary

argenx in the United States is seeking a senior patent attorney to lead IP strategy and portfolio execution for a growing biotech pipeline, including flagship assets. You will partner with scientists and business teams to protect inventions and drive filings across the US, Europe and other key jurisdictions.

The role requires a JD, USPTO registration and 8+ years in life sciences patents, with strong judgment, collaboration and a willingness to advance agentic workflows that leverage AI.

Qualifications

• US-licensed patent attorney with JD and USPTO registration.
• 8+ years of life sciences patent experience and portfolio building.
• Curiosity and appetite for agentic IP teamwork; willingness to adopt AI.
• Strong legal and business judgment; ability to explain complex issues across teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop IP strategy and manage global portfolios across US and key jurisdictions.
• Partner with global project teams to translate science into patent recommendations.
• Identify inventions with scientists and manage disclosures and trade secrets.
• Conduct infringement, validity, and freedom-to-operate analyses.
• Lead patent diligence for transactions and negotiate IP provisions.
• Support litigation readiness and coordinate with external counsel.
• Manage external counsel and drive portfolio reviews and long-range planning.
• Shape an agentic IP team with workflow pilots and governance.

Skills

Legal judgment

Communication

Collaboration

Learning agility

Risk assessment

Education

Juris Doctor (JD)

USPTO registration

Advanced life sciences degree

Job description

Join us as we transform immunology and deliver medicines that help autoimmune patients get their lives back. argenx is preparing for multi-dimensional expansion to reach more patients through a rich pipeline of differentiated assets, led by VYVGART, our first-in-class neonatal Fc receptor blocker approved for the treatment of gMG, and with the potential to treat patients across dozens of severe autoimmune diseases.

We are building a new kind of biotech company, one that maintains its roots as a science-based start-up and pushes our commitment to innovate across all corners of our business. We strive to inspire and grow our company, our partnerships, our science, and our people, because when we do, we deliver more for patients.

This role will drive IP strategy and value creation for innovations that can improve the lives of patients with severe autoimmune diseases, while helping shape how a modern intellectual property (IP) team works. We are seeking an experienced US patent attorney who combines strong legal judgment, scientific curiosity and commercial insight with a genuine appetite to challenge established ways of working.

Core Responsibilities

• Patent Strategy and Portfolios: Develop creative, business-aligned protection and enforcement strategies. Build and manage global portfolios and oversee patent preparation, filing and prosecution in the United States, Europe and other key jurisdictions throughout the world.


• Scientific and Business Partnership: Act as strategic IP partner to global project teams responsible for key drug candidates across argenx’s portfolio. Translate complex science and patent issues into clear recommendations that support product development, commercialization and long-term portfolio value.


• Invention and Disclosure Management: Work with scientists to identify and protect inventions, assess inventorship, manage public disclosures and strengthen trade secret protection.


• Risk and Competitive Assessment: Conduct infringement, validity, freedom-to-operate and competitive landscape analyses, identifying actionable risks and opportunities.


• Transactions and Agreements: Lead patent-related diligence and support licensing, collaborations, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. Review, draft and negotiate IP provisions and agreements, including confidentiality, technology transfer and licensing arrangements.


• Disputes and Litigation Readiness: Strengthen litigation readiness and lead or support patent disputes in coordination with the internal team and external counsel. Connect prosecution, records and enforcement strategy.


• Portfolio Execution: Manage external counsel and business partners, align priorities and resources, and deliver portfolio reviews, long-range planning and special projects.


• Help Build an Agentic IP Team: Identify and Test Opportunities: Help design and pilot approved agent-assisted workflows for activities such as request intake, patent monitoring, diligence preparation, portfolio reporting and knowledge retrieval. Start with bounded use cases and improve them through feedback. Maintain Accountable Legal Oversight: Define tasks, authoritative inputs, review checkpoints and escalation rules. Verify outputs and references, protect confidential and privileged information, respect data-use restrictions, and retain attorney accountability for legal advice and consequential decisions. Build Team Capability: Partner with IP operations, technology and other colleagues to turn useful pilots into repeatable practices. Share learning, coach colleagues and assess improvements in quality, responsiveness and capacity, not simply tool usage.

Required Qualifications

• US Legal Credentials: A Juris Doctor (JD) degree, active membership in good standing in at least one US state bar, and registration to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).


• Life Sciences Patent Experience: At least eight years of broad patent experience in life sciences, with demonstrated success building complex portfolios and developing and executing patent strategy. Large-molecule experience is a plus but not required for the right candidate.


• Curiosity and Appetite for Agentic Working: A genuine, demonstrable appetite and curiosity to help drive an evolving agentic IP team. Willingness to learn emerging AI capabilities, question established processes, experiment responsibly and help colleagues adopt better ways of working is essential.


• Judgment and Communication: Strong legal and business judgment; the ability to explain complex issues clearly, make practical recommendations and collaborate effectively across scientific, commercial and legal teams.

Preferred Experience

• Scientific Training: An advanced life sciences degree, preferably at least a thesis-based master’s degree in biology or a related field.


• Breadth of Practice: Both law firm and in-house experience; biosimilar or generic litigation; licensing and transactional diligence. Law firm-only candidates, particularly those with IP litigation experience in addition to portfolio building, will also be considered. Rare-disease and small-molecule experience are additional advantages.


• Practical Innovation: Experience improving legal workflows or using AI, automation or knowledge tools is welcome. Prior agent-building experience and coding skills are not required; learning agility, sound judgment and a willingness to experiment are essential.

How You Work

You are inquisitive, collaborative and comfortable with ambiguity. You seek risk-balanced and innovative solutions to enable business objectives. You take ownership, prioritize effectively, welcome feedback and have a strong appetite to teach and learn. You combine ambition with humility and contribute to argenx’s values of innovation, co-creation, empowerment, excellence and humility.#LI-RemoteFor applicants in the United States: The annual base salary hiring range for this position is $252,000.00 - $346,500.00 USD. This range reflects our good faith estimate at the time of posting. Individual compensation is determined using objective, inclusive, and job-related criteria such as relevant experience, skills, demonstrated competencies and internal equity. This means actual pay may differ from the posted range when justified by those factors. Because market conditions evolve, pay ranges are reviewed regularly and may be adjusted to remain aligned with external benchmarks.

Note: If the posted hiring range does not apply to your work location, the recruiter will share the locally applicable annual base salary hiring range, provided in your country's currency, during the recruitment process. This information will reflect market conditions, role scope, and internal guidelines specific to your location.

This job is eligible to participate in our short-term and long-term incentive programs, subject to the terms and conditions of those plans and applicable policies. It also includes a comprehensive benefits package, including but not limited to retirement savings plans, health benefits and other benefits subject to the terms of the applicable plans and program guidelines.

At argenx, all applicants are welcomed in an inclusive environment. They will receive equal consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics. argenx is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

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