Senior Patent Docketing Manager

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Our Company

Hitachi drives Social Innovation Business, creating a sustainable society through the use of data and technology. We are a climate change innovator, partnering with cities, governments and companies to cut carbon. We are working to connect solutions with the help of Hitachi’s Green Energy and Mobility both physically and digitally to deliver net-zero. The company’s consolidated revenues for fiscal year 2023 (ended March 31, 2024) totalled 8,564.3 billion yen, and approximately 268,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at https://www.hitachi.com.

What you’ll be doing

As a Senior Patent Docketing Manager, you will join a dynamic group of in-house Intellectual Property professionals and will be responsible for supporting the development and management of Hitachi’s patent and design portfolio in Europe. Your responsibilities will include patent and design docketing, legal operations, invoice processing, liaising with Head Office, and administrative tasks. This role reports to the Senior Patent Attorney responsible for Europe and will be based in Paris (France) or London (UK), with the possibility of partial remote work.

Key Responsibilities:

Docketing & Data Management

• Manage in-house patent and design docket, including creating new matters, tracking correspondence, uploading documents, verifying deadlines, closing matters, and generating status reports.

• Review correspondence from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), European Patent Office (EPO), and national patent offices to track application status.

• Oversee patent and design deadlines, ensuring compliance across the in-house teams, inventors, and external counsels.

• Validate and maintain the accuracy of data and docket configurations within Hitachi’s internal database.

Documentation & Filing

• Prepare and file patent applications, design registrations, office action responses, inventor declarations, extensions, petitions, assignments for national, regional, and international IP offices.

• Manage formal documents, including invention disclosure forms, powers of attorney, and other IP-related agreements, ensuring proper execution, notarization and legalization as needed.

• Conduct quality reviews of patent and design documentation to detect and correct inaccuracies.

• Communicate with inventors to collect information for patent or design applications.

Administrative & Operational Support

• Process invoices and coordinate with external counsels.

• Coordinate and manage patent and design annuity payments, administer patent award programs.

• Coordinate the efforts of IP management teams across some Hitachi’s business units in Europe to ensure alignment, consistency, and operational efficiency.

• Assist in the extraction and analysis of patent and other data and the generation of internal metrics and reports.

• Provide IP-related support for projects, including patent portfolio intake, legal operations for patent and design data management, occasional trademark management support, and global initiatives in collaboration with regional IP teams worldwide.

What you bring to the team 

We’re looking for a team player, who is motivated by delivering great work and the Hitachi vision. The role will be a mixture of remote-hybrid work with days in the Hitachi Office.

The office location would be in France.

The ideal candidate will possess the following skills and background:

Qualifications

• Proven solid experience, at least 8 years, as an IP paralegal in a corporate environment.

• Strong knowledge of international IP laws, including docketing and prosecution processes at EPO and WIPO.

• Expertise in managing patent and design portfolios using digital IP Management Systems, such as Anaqua.

• Familiarity with IP Office online filing tools, such as MyEPO.

• Proficiency in MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Teams).

Skills & Abilities

• Strong organizational and project management skills with attention to detail.

• Strong analytical abilities to identify data issues, evaluate risks, and summarize complex topics.

• Effective communication and interpersonal skills, suited to a diverse, inclusive, and multinational workplace.

• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with IP teams across the globe.

• Proactive contribution in suggesting and implementing improvements to IP management procedures, identifying opportunities to streamline processes, and ensuring greater efficiency and consistency in operations.

• Quick learner with adaptability to new tasks and tools.

• Proficiency in English, both written and spoken. Japanese would be a plus.

Benefits Package

Along with a market competitive salary and discretionary bonus scheme, employees have the option to work flexibly in line with our hybrid working model and we would be happy to discuss this with you during the hiring process.

Our Values

We are proud to say we are an equal opportunity employer and welcome all applicants for employment without attention to any factor that doesn’t impact your ability to do the job, including race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.  We are proud of Japanese heritage, with our values expressed through the Hitachi Spirit:

Wa – Harmony, Trust, Respect

Makoto – Sincerity, Fairness, Honesty, Integrity

Kaitakusha-Seishin – Pioneering Spirit, Challenge

If, like us, you’re motivated by delivering first class services, thrive in a fast paced and supportive environment and want to help Hitachi to drive social innovation, we’d love to hear from you.