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Careers at Synoptic IP

We hire subject-matter specialists first and searchers second. If you know your technology deeply and want to spend your days reading patents that decide real disputes, we would like to hear from you.

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We work as a team with a clear focus on common goals, in an environment where people are engaged, motivated and able to do their best work. We look for talented individuals with strong technical skills and diverse perspectives. Your ideas are encouraged, your growth is supported, and your achievements are recognised.

Synoptic IP has been running prior art and patent research for law firms and corporations since 2013. The work is technical, it is read closely by patent attorneys, and it carries your judgement rather than a template.

The work you would be doing

Prior art and novelty searching

Reading an invention disclosure or a set of claims, building the search strategy, and running it across premium patent databases and the major non-patent sources. The output is the art that actually bears on novelty and obviousness, with your reasoning for why each reference matters.

Invalidity and opposition searching

Searching against a granted claim set with a critical date to hit. This is where family history, publication-date verification and foreign-language literature decide the outcome, and where the reference nobody else found is the whole value of the project.

Freedom-to-operate analysis

Mapping a product or process against live patent rights in the jurisdictions that matter, so a client can judge risk before launch. It needs care with claim scope, legal status and assignment data as much as with the technology.

Claim charts and evidence of use

Limitation-by-limitation mapping for licensing and litigation support, read against product teardowns, technical documentation, source code and standards specifications. Precision matters here more than speed.

Patent illustrations

Converting sketches, CAD files and photographs into filing-ready figures that meet 37 CFR §1.84 and PCT drawing rules, with reference numerals checked against the specification before filing.

Drafting and prosecution support

Provisional and non-provisional drafting, office-action responses, information disclosure statements and docketing support for firms that need an extra pair of technically qualified hands.

Where you would fit

Hi-Tech (ICT)

Semiconductors and fabrication, wireless, 5G and networking, AI and machine learning, software, cloud and security, electronics, displays and power. Backgrounds in electronics, electrical, computer science, communications engineering and physics sit here.

Life Sciences & Chemistry

Biotechnology and genomics, pharmaceuticals and formulations, biologics and vaccines, organic and medicinal chemistry, polymers and specialty chemicals. We do biological sequence and chemical structure searching in-house, so chemistry and biotech degrees are put to direct use.

Medical Devices

Diagnostics and imaging, surgical and interventional devices, implants and prosthetics, drug delivery, and digital health. These inventions usually sit across hardware, software and regulation at once, which makes them some of the most interesting work we take on.

Mechanical & Manufacturing

Automotive and EV systems, robotics and mechatronics, industrial machinery and tooling, aerospace and defence, energy, HVAC and fluid systems. Mechanical, automobile, production and aerospace engineering backgrounds fit here.

How we work

One specialist runs the project end to end

We do not split a search between a junior who runs it and a senior who reviews it. The person who builds the strategy is the person who reads the art and writes the chart, which means the work is yours and so is the judgement in it.

You talk to the client

Our associates speak to the attorneys and in-house counsel they work for, rather than passing questions through an account manager. You learn what the search is really for, and you get the feedback directly.

AI widens the net, people decide what is in it

We use AI-enhanced retrieval across patent and non-patent sources, and we expect you to use it well. What it cannot do is decide whether a reference anticipates a claim. That part stays with the person reading it.

Depth is the point

Our associates average around six years in their technology. People stay in a field long enough to know its vocabulary, including the terms it used a decade ago, because that is where a lot of the decisive art is hiding.

How to apply

Send your CV to info@synopticip.com. Tell us which technology area you work in and, if you have one, include a short piece of technical writing — a report, a thesis chapter, a paper — so we can see how you explain a difficult idea. We will get in touch.

If you do not see your exact field above, write anyway. Our work follows our clients' portfolios, and those move.

Email Your CV About Synoptic IP

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