Job description

IP rights give individuals and businesses the confidence to develop something new, knowing they can reap the benefits of their work.

They are the incentive to encourage us all to innovate and create, to help strengthen our economy and enrich our society.

The Government wants the UK to be the best place in the world for inventors, creators and innovators to build on their ideas and find success. IP underpins our economy driving innovation and investment which, as set out in the government’s Innovation Strategy, is vital to tackling the world’s largest challenges, such as climate change.  Now, more than ever, we must support innovators as the UK looks to embrace the science and innovation that is at the heart of our post-pandemic economic plan to build back better. IP plays a key role in how businesses compete, at home and in world markets.

The IP framework is central to the UK’s ability to generate growth and jobs; it provides the means by which businesses and individuals can commercialise their ideas, turning them into the products and artistic expressions which improve the quality of life of consumers in the UK and internationally. The Director of the IP Framework is responsible for our domestic IP rights policy, our future technologies policy (such as green technology, data, digital and artificial intelligence) and our internal coordination across all aspects of intellectual property policy.

The role is enormously varied: ranging from heading a network of domestic teams leading on IP policy and legislation; designing domestic policies to support UK innovation through IP; providing specialist IP rights knowledge on elements of trade negotiations; leading rights-specific engagement with international institutions, such as the European Patent Office and the World Intellectual Property Organisation; performing research, policy development and engagement on new and emerging market trends that have a key impact on IP rights; to leading engagement with a diverse and demanding stakeholder base.

For full details on the role, person specification and appointment process, please see the candidate information pack attached below.

Responsibilities

As a Board member the holder will play a significant part in the management and leadership of the whole IPO, helping to shape its approach to its people, its business activities and its role in the UK recovery from Covid. This provides the great, and unusual, opportunity at this level to develop Board level responsibility in an Agency with policy and operational responsibilities.

 There are a number of key challenges:

 Managing a fast-paced set of future technology changes that impact the way IP rights are granted and managed; understanding where radical change may be on the horizon.

Developing initiatives that ensure UK IP legislation keeps pace with global changes and helps to support growth and innovation.

Managing a diverse set of stakeholder needs, including a strong public interest test, that is often hard to reconcile.

Ensuring that the coordination between the IPO’s other policy teams is effective in order to avoid silos and to promote efficient cross-office policy development.

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role

• An environment with flexible working options

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

• A Civil Service pension

• 25 days annual leave on entry, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service. This is in addition to 8 public holidays. This will be complimented by one further day paid privilege entitlement to mark the Queen’s Birthday;

• A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension; where your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken; and where your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire;

• Flexible working patterns including part- time or time-term working and access to Flexible Working Schemes allowing you to vary your working day as long as you work your total hours;

• Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers;

Interest-free loans allowing you to spread the cost of an annual travel season ticket or a new bicycle;

• The opportunity to use onsite facilities including fitness centres and staff canteens (where applicable); and

Occupational sick pay.

Things you need to know

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

See our vetting charter.

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Selection process details

To apply for this post please follow the instructions on the CS Jobs website by no later than 23:55 Sunday 10th April 2022.

As part of the application process you are asked to complete the following:

1. A personal statement (no more than 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification.

2. A CV (max. of 2 pages) setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role, relevant achievements in recent posts, together with reasons for any gaps within the last two years.

3. Assessments including a presentation if successful at the sift stage.

4. Final Interview.

All successful candidates at sift stage will be contacted with further details on the assessments process. A presentation will be part of the assessment and not at the interview stage.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals

nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

nationals of the Republic of Ireland

nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service

relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service

certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals