Executive Manager, Intellectual Property

Acknowledgement of Country 

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation. 

Role highlights

• Lead CSIRO’s enterprise-wide IP strategy and commercialisation initiatives
• Maximise research impact and revenue through effective IP management
• Provide strategic leadership to a high-performing team within CSIRO’s Legal Unit
  
  
  

About CSIRO

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

Visit CSIRO.au for more information.

The opportunity 

From invention to innovation, commercialisation is an important path to deliver profound and positive impact to society, fund further investments in science and research and support a sustainable CSIRO. In this context, the Intellectual Property (IP) Team within CSIRO’s Legal Unit provides specialist advice and management services relating to CSIRO's substantial portfolio of IP.

As Executive Manager, Intellectual Property, you will lead the IP Team and be a key member of the Legal Unit Leadership Team. You will oversee enterprise-wide IP protection and commercialisation strategies and create IP assets for future use and value creation. You will be responsible for building strong external relationships with customers, collaborators, and service providers.

This is a unique opportunity to influence CSIRO’s innovation pipeline and drive growth in science impact and revenue through strategic IP management.

Your high-level duties will include: 

• Supporting the Chief Legal Officer in partnering with the Board, the Executive Team and Business Development Directors (in turn, supporting Research Unit Directors) to develop IP and commercialisation strategies and associated business models.
• Promoting and delivering a highly professional and collaborative approach in dealing with internal and external customers, capturing and executing against the enterprise-wide IP pipeline and Corporate Plan, resulting in financial return and impact from CSIRO’s IP, research and development and commercialisation.
• Leading IP services and business improvement and change management projects to continually enhance the understanding, effectiveness and efficiency of IP engagement among all CSIRO staff.
• Executing on CSIRO’s Corporate Plan priorities by ensuring a coherent IP and commercialisation strategy.  
• Developing strong trusted advisor relationships with senior executives and external stakeholders across industry and government.
• Proactively identifying, guiding, and supporting the conversion of strategic IP and commercialisation opportunities, including leading large and complex commercial projects on behalf of the organisation.
• Identifying and realising IP capture opportunities.

Role particulars

Location: Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane preferred, with other Australian locations considered.

Salary: AU$163k – AU$180k per annum (pro rata for part-time), plus 15.4% superannuation

Tenure: Indefinite, Full-time

Options for part-time, job-share and flexible work arrangements can be discussed based on needs of role and individual circumstances.             

Reference: 102035

As the successful candidate, you will bring:

Essential

• Relevant tertiary degree, combined with demonstrated achievement in senior IP advisory and managerial roles together with relevant domain expertise. 
• Current registration as a Trans-Tasman Patent Attorney.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and manage a portfolio of strategic IP relationships, activities, and assets, in line with CSIRO’s Corporate Plan.
• Demonstrated ability to design and deliver strategic initiatives through own actions, as well as driving alignment across teams, scientists, and customers – delivering results that are impactful and aligned to CSIRO’s Corporate Plan.
• Demonstrated leadership skills and experience that can be applied to leading a team (including through significant change), engaging the team, and providing a unified goal and strategy for them to align to.
• Demonstrated experience to build and maintain strong professional and collaborative working relationships across a wide range of disciplines at all levels of the organisation and externally, proactively seek and influence multiple key stakeholders, within a complex and ambiguous environment, to achieve a successful outcome.
• Demonstrated experience in building a high performing team, providing coaching and development opportunities across the breadth and depth of a complex team that delivers high standards in service delivery as well as technical output, proven ability to hold a team accountable to specified results, as well as creating a culture that fosters innovative problem solving, continuous improvement and knowledge sharing.

Desirable

• Registration as a Trade Mark Attorney in Australia (or an equivalent overseas registration).
• Hold, or have the ability to obtain, a security clearance at the Negative Vetting 1 Level.
• A demonstrated commitment to health, safety, and wellbeing of staff, willing to challenge the status quo in pursuit of Zero Harm. 

 
For full details about this role, and other criteria, please review the Position Description. 

Not sure if you meet all the criteria?

While it is CSIRO policy that the successful candidate must meet all the essential criteria, there are many ways to demonstrate this. Don’t let the list discourage you. If you are unsure about applying, please reach out to the contact person in the Position Description.

Life at CSIRO and flexible work arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO.

Inclusion and belonging

Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse teams are more effective and deliver more innovative outcomes. As an equal employment opportunity organisation, we are committed to creating diverse and inclusive teams where people feel they belong. We recognise true diversity encompasses all ages, abilities, cultures, faiths, levels of education, genders, sexualities, diversity of thought and much more. We focus on hiring people who share our values of People First, Further Together, Making it Real and Trusted.

CSIRO holds Gold Status for the Australian Workplace Equality Index for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and a Science in Australia Gender Equity Bronze Award.

Eligibility 

Applications for this position are open to Australian Citizens, New Zealand Citizens and Australian Permanent Residents. Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.   

Child safety 

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy. 

How to apply 

Please apply online and submit a cover letter (maximum 2 pages) and CV that demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the essential requirements of this role.

Applications close 

Sunday 18th January 2026, 11pm AEDT.