VP, Intellectual Property and Corporate Legal

Septerna is a biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, CA on a mission to develop life-changing medicines for patients with the vision to become the industry-leading G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)-focused drug discovery company. The company’s Native Complex Platform™ recapitulates GPCRs with their native structure, function, and dynamics outside of the cellular context. This approach enables novel access to modern structural and screening technologies used in industrial-scale drug discovery for the entire class of GPCRs. Septerna has an emerging pipeline of GPCR-targeted small molecule programs with potential for growth to target many GPCRs that have been undruggable and unexploited to date.

We are excited to expand our multidisciplinary team of individuals focused on creating revolutionary medicines to address the unmet needs of patients. At Septerna we strive to embrace diversity of thought, expertise, and background through collaboration. To join our ambitious team, be prepared to bring your real self to work every day; grow and learn from a talented team of drug hunters, scientists, and business professionals; and contribute your passion, creativity, and energy to accomplish our mission. We share a fearless pursuit of ground-breaking innovations and cultivate an environment where our employees succeed by learning from each other and working as a team.

We are committed to the development of meaningful therapeutics for patients with indications of high unmet need. This is a tremendous opportunity to work with talented individuals on the frontlines of therapeutic discovery and development. You will directly help move therapies through preclinical research, positioning them for success in the clinic. The successful candidate will add their passion, unique talents, and expertise to a dynamic team motivated to discover new disease-modifying therapeutics for patients in a fast-paced environment.

For more information see: www.septerna.com.

THE ROLE & Key Responsibilities

• Lead Septerna’s global patent strategy for its Native Complex Platform, product candidate portfolio, and intellectual property management within R&D collaborations.
• Manage outside intellectual property counsel including prosecution of patent applications on a global basis.
• Lead freedom-to-operate landscape reviews, due diligence assessments, patentability, and related matters to support scientific and business development teams.
• Experience and/or demonstrated interest in learning all subject areas encompassing the in-house counsel role including SEC reporting, corporate governance, licensing transactions, employment law, employee benefits. Desire for career trajectory to Chief Legal Officer preferred.
• Lead contract and licensing negotiations as it relates to all intellectual property matters (e.g., CDAs, MTAs, research agreements, collaborations, licenses, etc.) and oversee outside counsel and consultants providing contract review and support services.
• Manage in-house paralegal and other legal staff as company scales growth across both corporate and intellectual property matters.
• Educate and advise colleagues on intellectual property issues and good practices.

*Title commensurate with experience

QUALIFICATIONS

• Juris Doctorate from an ABA accredited law school. Demonstrated stock academic background.   Undergraduate and/or graduate work in biology or chemistry strongly preferred.
• Admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and member of at least one US state bar
• 7+ years of demonstrated experience in prosecuting and preparing technically relevant patent applications at a highly regarded law firm and/or corporate legal department; Ideal candidates will have practiced patent law both at a highly-regarded law firm and in-house at a biopharma company.
• Strong communication skills and desire to develop and maintain close relationships and collaborate with scientific, commercial, and business development teams.
• Extensive experience with contractual provisions regarding intellectual property ownership, patent prosecution, patent enforcement, indemnification, trade secret, confidentiality, and other important IP terms and conditions.
• IP litigation experience preferred either through direct experience or managing outside counsel in active matters (e.g., inter partes reviews, patent infringement actions, trade secrets, re-examinations, interference proceedings under European Patent Convention, patent validity and non-infringement opinions).
• Experience with platform technology and multiple product candidate portfolio preferred.
• Experience and interest in managing intellectual property portfolio in the context of collaborative R&D collaborations.
• Strong legal, analytical, research, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage and drive projects cross-functionally across departments.