Patent Engineer

Snap Inc is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Snap contributes to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. The Company’s three core products are Snapchat, a visual messaging app that enhances your relationships with friends, family, and the world; Snap AR, an augmented reality platform that powers and enables creators around the world to revolutionize the way we create, explore, play, and shop using AR across Snapchat and other services; and its AR glasses, Spectacles.

The Legal & Policy Team is Snap’s dedicated in-house law firm, policy consultant, lobbyist, thought partner, and all-around advisor. This team helps Snap do the right thing the right way, make better decisions, understand and manage risks, and creatively navigate challenges, both external and internal. We partner with Snap team members on a wide array of matters, including privacy, product, IP, commercial transactions, corporate governance, employment, acquisitions, litigation, and policy, and social impact. We value the power of diversity, as we continually strive to build an innovative and inclusive leadership culture centered on Snap's values of Kind, Smart, and Creative.

We’re looking for a multidimensional patent engineer to join our Patent Team!

What you’ll do:

• Be a team member on the Patent Team, an in-house patent creation, litigation, and strategy center, to help Snap do things the right way, make sound decisions, manage risks, and creatively navigate challenges both internally and externally.
• Work with Snap’s diverse engineering and product teams, the patent creation team, and outside counsel to protect Snap’s innovations.
• Identify patentable inventions through discussions and harvesting sessions, aid inventors in drafting invention disclosures, conduct research and analysis necessary for protecting IP, including analysis of competitive patents and products.
• Also, you will help us make key strategic decisions whether to patent particular technologies or maintain them as trade secrets.
• Partner closely with our IP Litigation and Transactions team to help them analyze inbound license demands, patents asserted against Snap in litigation, challenges to our patents and 3rd-party patents, and patents available for sale in the market.
• Partner with our M&A and Strategy teams to evaluate patent assets that are part of an acquisition, and to identify relevant patent assets for possible acquisition.
• Conduct prior art searches and analysis for purposes of litigation and patent prosecution.
• Maintain a solid understanding of Snap product lines and relevant industry technologies and use that knowledge to inform IP generation and strategy.
• Become deeply familiar with a diverse range of technologies covered by our patent portfolio.
• Work with domain experts within Snap to help our in-house and outside counsel better understand the technologies, draft and edit claim language from a technical perspective, and develop detectability, reverse-engineering, and design-around plans.
• Identify evidence of use and develop claim charts based on such evidence of use.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Proficient in engineering techniques related to hardware design and systemsStrong business acumenExcellent communication skills both written and verbal, including editing skillsStrong organizational skillsAbility to creatively think outside-the-boxCollaborative teammate who can connect well with a broad range of people and who knows how to explain technical concepts in an easy-to-understand mannerSelf-starter who is able to recognize and set priorities with minimal directionExpertise in patent strategy and portfolio management Knowledge and understanding of patent terminology, processes, requirements, and systems Familiarity with patent database softwareExperience conducting prior art searchesExperience creating and analyzing claim chartsMust be willing to travel 3-4 times a year

Minimum qualifications

Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, physics, or related field, or equivalent years of experience5+ years of large-scale technology and innovation projects with engineering and product teams 2 years hardware engineering related experience2+ years of patent-related experience involving patent creation, patent analysis, and/or prior art searching

Preferred qualifications

Master of Science degree in electrical engineering, physics, computer science, or related fieldTechnical experience in display and waveguide technologies, particularly augmented reality (AR) head-mounted displaysPatent Agent CertificationExperience in a corporate (in-house) IP team or IP law firm

"Default Together" Policy at Snap: At Snap Inc. we believe that being together in person helps us build our culture faster, reinforce our values, and serve our community, customers and partners better through dynamic collaboration. To reflect this, we practice a “default together” approach and expect our team members to work in an office 4+ days per week

At Snap, we believe that having a team of diverse backgrounds and voices working together will enable us to create innovative products that improve the way people live and communicate. Snap is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. EOE, including disability/vets. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please don’t be shy and contact us at accommodations-ext@snap.com.

Our Benefits: Snap Inc. is its own community, so we’ve got your back! We do our best to make sure you and your loved ones have everything you need to be happy and healthy, on your own terms. Our benefits are built around your needs and include paid parental leave, comprehensive medical coverage, emotional and mental health support programs, and compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success!

Compensation

In the United States, work locations are assigned a pay zone which determines the salary range for the position. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. These pay zones may be modified in the future.

Zone A (CA, WA, NYC):

The base salary range for this position is $184,000-$276,000 annually.

Zone B

The base salary range for this position is $175,000-$262,000 annually.

Zone C

The base salary range for this position is $156,000-$235,000 annually.

This position is eligible for equity in the form of RSUs.