[Hiring] Senior Counsel, IP @SandboxAQ

Role Description

SandboxAQ’s legal team supports the business by protecting the company’s innovations and enabling growth while mitigating legal risk. The team embodies curiosity, collaboration, and creative problem-solving and works closely with business, finance, general managers, R&D leadership, and other cross-functional teams.

The legal team is looking for a Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property to join our team. This person will own the strategy and development of our IP function alongside our IP executive business sponsor. As an early legal hire, this person will play a key role in building a forward-thinking, business-savvy, dynamic legal team. Among other things, the role will focus on:

• Owning our patent portfolio end to end.
• Partnering directly with scientists and engineers to identify patentable work.
• Managing outside patent firms.
• Informing product strategy and launches through freedom-to-operate and clearance analyses.
• Serving as the IP voice in commercial, collaboration, and corporate transactions.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) or equivalent law degree, with admission to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• 7+ years of substantive intellectual property law experience, with significant depth and expertise in patent law.
• Strong technical fluency, with the ability to engage credibly and effectively with PhD-level physicists, chemists, machine learning researchers, and other technical experts.
• Strategic and agile, with the ability to thrive in fast-paced, high-growth environments.
• Collaborative and high EQ, with the ability to build relationships across diverse teams.

Requirements

• A combination of in-house and Big Law experience is strongly preferred.
• USPTO registration / patent bar admission is preferred.
• An undergraduate or graduate degree in a STEM field — physics, chemistry, computer science, electrical engineering, or similar — is strongly valued.
• Experience with AI/ML, life sciences, or computational chemistry subject matter.
• Experience or interest in building an IP program from an early stage.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents with generous employer premium contributions.
• Retirement savings with company matching.
• Paid parental leave and inclusive family-building benefits.
• Fully remote, flexible paid time off, and company-wide seasonal breaks.
• Opportunities for continuous learning and growth through on-the-job development.