Associate Patent Examiner: Telecomms, Computing, Electrical/Electronic Engineering and Medical Physics

Wales, Yorkshire
Intellectual Property Office
Job summary

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Patent examining offers the unusual opportunity to combine scientific & engineering expertise with legal skills. Successful candidates will receive comprehensive training and mentoring in the legal skills required for the role. Patent Examiners combine these skills with their technical knowledge and analytical ability to determine if an invention is new and inventive and whether, or not, the application satisfies various other legal requirements.

Currently, we are looking for people who have knowledge in one of the following technical fields:

• Telecommunications, Computer Systems, Electrical or Electronic Engineering, or other similar subject, with knowledge of one or more of the following: the air interface, core network, MIMO, small cell arrangements and network slicing in LTE and 5G, Wi-Fi network protocols and operation, image/video/speech/audio processing, cryptography or encryption, network security, quantum computing, AI, neural networks, virtualised and cloud computing, fault-tolerant computing, hardware design or database technologies.
• Medical physics

Working Location

This role will be carried out in-line with IPO Hybrid working arrangements where staff are currently expected to attend the office 1 day per week, or equivalent if part-time, on-site at our Newport office.

We would encourage candidates to discuss working arrangements with the recruiting manager to agree a reasonable balance between working from home and the office. The requirement for attendance at an office location can vary by role but is very unlikely to be less than 1 day per week.

Job description

New Associate Patent Examiners will either be given a full-time 7-week initial training course, or trained 1-1 at the desk by an experienced line manager. This will depend on a number of factors such as whether your elected start date aligns with the initial training course start date, and whether you are joining as part of a larger cohort. Training will include seminars, practical demonstrations, coursework and associated tutorials.

The initial training course (7 weeks full time) will require 3 days a week onsite at our Newport Office. Candidates that are unable to attend the Newport office 3 days a week for the initial training course should discuss this with the recruiting manager. There may be a requirement for further onsite training as an Associate Patent Examiner.

Once the formal training period has ended, Associate Patent Examiners will begin working on live casework to continue to develop their skills and build their self-assurance to carry out the role:

• Search and examine patent applications against the relevant criteria, using knowledge of the law and Office procedures to bring casework to a successful conclusion (grant or refusal).
• Communicate legally and technically complex concepts in writing and orally to internal and external audiences.
• Build experience in your specialist technical area, but also a wider flexibility in dealing with a variety of other subject matters.
• Manage and prioritise workloads to work to agreed quality and productivity goals.
• Take responsibility for own development by acting on feedback, keeping technical skills up to date and developing wider behaviours where appropriate.

New Associate Patent Examiners recruited in specialist technical fields may work on simple technological subject matter to embed the legal training until ready to move on to specialist subject matter; this may take up to a year.

After 2-5 years mastering these basics of the examining job and developing a broad set of professional skills you can then apply for promotion to ‘Patent Examiner’. At this grade you work independently while continuing to develop your skills and experience. After a few more years of development there is non-competitive promotion to ‘Senior Patent Examiner’. Senior Patent Examiners are subject matter experts, leaders within the Patent Examining Division and mentors to the next generation of examiners.

Qualifications

Applicants must hold least a 2:2 degree covering any of the listed areas, OR, having equivalent industrial experience in a relevant technical field (5 years or more working in an engineering role where you have had the opportunity to learn, apply and embed technical knowledge in your specialist field).

Please note: GCSE grade C or above (or equivalent) in Mathematics may also be required. Behaviours

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Knowledge in one of the following scientific fields: Telecommunications, Computer Systems, Electrical or electronic Engineering, or other similar subject Medical physics
• Ability to understand and evaluate scientific and technical information, making decisions and reaching conclusions quickly and accurately.

We only ask for evidence of these technical skills on your application form:

• Knowledge in one of the following scientific fields: Telecommunications, Computer Systems, Electrical or electronic Engineering, or other similar subject Medical physics

Benefits

• A very generous pension scheme with 27.1% employer contributions. Further information can be found around the benefits of joining the Civil Service can be found via the Civil Service Pension Scheme page;
• 25 days annual leave moving to 30 days in annual increments (1 day per year) over 5 years of reckonable service. You will also get 8 days public leave and 1 day privilege leave;
• The opportunity to form part of our many inclusive network groups
• A variety of support functions including our excellent Staff Counselling Service which is a source of support for all staff at the IPO
• A flexible working scheme which has no core hours and excellent opportunities for home, part-time and term-time working;
• Eligibility for special and office-wide bonus payments
• Excellent development opportunities;
• Opportunities for secondments, both internal and external;
• Opportunities to join many civil-service clubs such as the Sports and Social Association, Motoring Club (CSMA), which provide numerous discounts to members

When working at Concept House, Newport the following benefits are also available:

• Free car parking is available on site;
• On-site facilities including gymnasium, shop, restaurant