Intellectual Property Manager - Remote

The successful professional should be able to step into the Legal Support / patent prosecution operation, work directly inside the function, and help stabilize it. This is not an advisory-only engagement and not an ordinary patent paralegal or docketing assignment.

• Assess current Legal Support and docketing workflows, workload, and ownership.
• Identify immediate risk points, control gaps, backlog, and recurring failure patterns.
• Stabilize daily patent prosecution support operations and establish clear accountability.
• Strengthen docket integrity, deadline verification, QC, correspondence processing, and reporting.
• Clarify role boundaries and handoffs across docketing/intake, billable prosecution support, and the legal team.
• Build practical dashboards, trackers, checkpoints, and escalation routines that management can rely on.
• Train, coach, and evaluate support staff while establishing appropriate autonomy levels.
• Review, validate, and streamline existing SOPs and workflows rather than creating unnecessary process.
• Support U.S., PCT, foreign prosecution, foreign-associate coordination, formalities, and preferably trademark operations.
• Help management determine the right long-term structure and leave behind a function that can run reliably without permanent consultant dependence.

Ideal Candidate Background

We are specifically looking for a senior operator who has previously managed or materially run a sophisticated patent prosecution support or docketing function. Strong candidate backgrounds may include:

• IP Operations Manager
• IP Practice Support Manager
• IP Legal Support Manager
• Senior Patent Paralegal with substantial management and workflow ownership
• Former law-firm IP operations professional now consulting, semi-retired, or between senior roles

A long career as an individual contributor, standing alone, is not sufficient. The candidate must understand how the pieces fit together operationally and have demonstrated responsibility for the health of a broader prosecution-support function.

Required / Strongly Preferred Experience

• Substantial hands-on experience with U.S. patent prosecution lifecycle and USPTO docketing.
• PCT practice, national-phase entry, foreign patent prosecution, and foreign-associate coordination.
• Deadline calculation and verification, prosecution correspondence, filing and post-filing workflows, formalities, IDS-related administration, assignments, declarations, and powers of attorney.
• Docket QC, deadline audits, matter opening/intake, matter closing/transfer, and prosecution status reporting.
• Managing or supervising Legal Support / docketing personnel, including work assignment, prioritization, training, performance feedback, and accountability.