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Patent Engineer (Life Sciences)
Contract type
Ongoing
Work mode
Hybrid · United Kingdom
Experience
Mid-level · 2+ years
Job description
A patent professional role at Ankar focused on large-molecule life sciences, bridging product development, engineering and IP protection. The person works hands-on with pharmaceutical and biotech customers to design AI-powered patent solutions for biologics.
At a glance
- Work mode
- Hybrid · United Kingdom
What you'll do
- Partner with product and engineering teams to develop AI tools tailored to large-molecule patents—from protein and antibody sequence analysis to biologics claim generation, sequence-listing support and prior-art searching across life sciences databases
- Work directly with in-house patent counsel and prosecution teams to design, prototype and deploy high-value proofs of concept for large-molecule patent workflows
- Translate complex large-molecule patent challenges into product requirements, ensuring our AI understands sequence data, CDR and epitope definitions, functional claim language, sequence variants, experimental data and biologics drafting conventions
- Lead technical sessions with patent professionals to ensure our products deliver measurable value across biologics patent portfolios
- Recognize evolving needs across therapeutic antibodies, recombinant proteins, vaccines, nucleic acid technologies, cell and gene therapies, biologics formulations and regulatory IP strategy
What we're looking for
- At least two years of experience in biologics patent prosecution, pharmaceutical or biotech IP, or other large-molecule-focused patent work, with a strong understanding of the patent lifecycle from invention disclosure through prosecution, grant and enforcement
- Strong knowledge of molecular biology, biochemistry, immunology or a related discipline, including an understanding of protein and nucleic acid sequences, antibody structure and function, biologics development, and how these translate into patentable subject matter
- Experience developing claim strategies for antibodies, proteins, nucleic acids or other biologic modalities, with an understanding of written-description, enablement, sequence-listing and functional-claiming requirements
- Builder's mindset: thrive in ambiguity, iterate quickly on prototypes and enjoy creating order from complexity; can move seamlessly between high-level patent strategy and detailed biologics claim construction
- Extreme ownership: anticipate problems, take responsibility for outcomes and consistently deliver
Nice to have
- Experience at a patent law firm representing pharmaceutical or biotech clients
- In-house patent counsel experience at a pharmaceutical or biotech company
- Expertise in emerging modalities such as antibody-drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies, RNA therapeutics or cell and gene therapies
- An advanced life sciences degree combined with patent training
Benefits
- Full private health & dental coverage for you and your dependents
- Flexible pension scheme with up to 5% employer matching on qualifying earnings
- Team lunches twice a week, plus dinner when working late in the office
- Green Commute initiative scheme (up to £3k) to help you get a new bike tax-free
- Deep, in-person collaboration (3 days/week in our Shoreditch office) with flexibility and trust
- Visa sponsorship: Yes
Apply
About Ankar
Building the R&D tools for the AI era
Ankar is building infrastructure and product experiences for R&D and IP teams, addressing the $1T+ innovation market. The company has raised >$24M to date from Tier-1 VCs and works with companies including L'Oréal and Vorys.
Mission
Building the R&D tools for the AI era and defining what applied research will look like in the next 20 years
Key facts
- R&D and IP software / AI
- Raised >$24M to date from Tier-1 VCs like Atomico, Index Ventures, Norrsken, Daphni
- Angels include the Founder of Hugging Face, CEO from Datadog, and Leaders from DeepMind and OpenAI
- Working with Fortune 500 company L'Oréal and global law firm Vorys
- Team includes alumni from Palantir, Amazon, and BCG
- Tackling the $1T+ innovation market
Partners & customers
AtomicoIndex VenturesNorrskenDaphniL'OréalVorys
What they value
- Extreme ownership
- Builder's mindset
- High autonomy
- Obsessed with mission
- Thrive in ambiguity