Legal Counsel – Biotech IP & Contracts (Patent Prosecution RQD | 5–8 Yrs Exp)

Title: Legal Counsel, IP & Contracts (Biotech)

Location: North Brunswick, NJ
Department: Legal / Operations
Reports To: Senior Finance Director
FLSA Status: Exempt
Salary Range: $160,000 – $230,000 annually

Position Overview

Sonder Research X is seeking an experienced Legal Counsel, IP & Contracts to serve as the company’s first in-house attorney, responsible for intellectual property management and contractual oversight. This individual will play a critical role in consolidating our legal operations, supporting our patent portfolio, and ensuring compliance and efficiency across the company.

The ideal candidate will bring a strong foundation in biotechnology, diagnostics, or medical devices, with practical experience managing patent filings and prosecution, reviewing agreements, and coordinating with outside counsel. This position offers the opportunity to shape Sonder’s legal infrastructure while directly supporting the company’s research, operations, and business objectives.

A core function of this role is transitioning appropriate IP and contract work in-house, reducing reliance on outside counsel while maintaining high-quality legal support for Sonder’s scientific and operational teams.

Key Responsibilities:

Intellectual Property Management

· Support Sonder’s IP portfolio strategy by contributing to strategic decisions on patent filings and managing day-to-day prosecution tasks in coordination with outside counsel.

· Conduct landscape and freedom-to-operate (FTO) analyses, review third-party IP, and monitor competitors’ patent activity, including completing in-house prior-art searches and preliminary assessments traditionally handled by outside counsel to reduce external legal spend.

· Collaborate with scientific teams to identify patentable inventions, guide invention harvesting, and align filings with Sonder’s business objectives.

· Oversee outside counsel for drafting, prosecution, maintenance, and strategic pruning of Sonder’s patent portfolio.

· Maintain processes for safeguarding trade secrets, proprietary know-how, and confidential information.

Contracts and Transactions

· Draft, review, and negotiate a range of agreements including NDAs, MTAs, employee/consulting, vendor/service, collaboration, and technology transfer agreements.

· Provide input on IP-related provisions in contracts, ensuring appropriate protection and risk mitigation.

· Establish standardized templates and playbooks for frequently used agreements, streamlining execution across teams.

· Coordinate closely with HR and Finance for consultant and vendor agreements, maintaining consistency and compliance with company standards.

Governance and Process Leadership

· Act as the gatekeeper between internal teams and outside legal resources, ensuring efficient prioritization and cost control.

· Identify and perform in-house all low- and mid-complexity IP and contract tasks that do not require outside counsel, including preliminary patent analyses, contract reviews, and routine legal assessments.

· Implement processes for intake and triage of legal requests, defining clear pathways for escalation to outside counsel when necessary.

· Support internal audit readiness, compliance reviews, and recordkeeping in collaboration with HR and Finance.

· Partner with R&D, Manufacturing, and Operations to proactively assess and mitigate IP or contract-related risks.

· Track and report on legal spend, providing transparency into costs and identifying opportunities to shift work in-house.

Training and Communication

· Provide IP and contract training to research and business teams.

· Build awareness of confidentiality, trade secret protection, and invention disclosure practices across the organization.

Qualifications

Required

· Juris Doctor (JD) degree and active license to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.

· 5-8 years of combined experience in law firm and/or in-house settings with a focus on intellectual property and contract law.

· Recent, hands-on experience managing patent prosecution and IP portfolios in the biotechnology, diagnostics, or medical device fields, including prior-art searches, landscape reviews, and preparation or review of patent filings.

· Demonstrated ability to draft and negotiate research, consulting, and vendor agreements independently.

· Strong organizational, analytical, and communication skills with a proactive, solution-oriented approach.

· Ideal candidates will bring mid-level attorney experience (approximately 5–8 years post-JD), including foundational law firm training and practical, independent work in patent prosecution and contract matters within the life sciences industry, at a level appropriate for the scope and compensation band of this role.

Preferred

· USPTO registration or experience managing patent filings and communications with the USPTO.

· Experience advising on technology transfer, collaboration, or licensing agreements.

· Knowledge of trade secret management, IP litigation support, or regulatory considerations for early-stage biotech companies.

· Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

Role Structure and Transition

This position represents Sonder’s first in-house legal hire and will assume responsibilities currently distributed among outside counsel and consultants. The Legal Counsel will work closely with the Senior Finance Director and HR to centralize contracting, IP management, and legal operations.

A key near-term mandate is to transition appropriate portions of the current patent and contract workload in-house, particularly landscape reviews, preliminary FTO analyses, routine contract drafting, and other tasks that do not require outside counsel to reduce reliance on high-cost external firms while maintaining our aggressive filing pace.

The company anticipates retaining external legal consultants during a transition period and will empower the new counsel to assess ongoing needs and recommend additional resources (e.g., paralegal support) as the function matures.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: From $160,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Vision insurance

Application Question(s):

• What is your expected salary range (REQUIRED)
• Will you now or in the future require Sonder Research X to provide visa sponsorship? Sonder does not provide visa sponsorship at this time.
• Do you have your Juris Doctor (JD) degree and an active license to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction?
• Are you comfortable serving as the sole legal resource for internal teams, handling a range of legal needs across the organization?

Education:

• Doctorate (Required)

Experience:

• USPTO registration managing patent filings : 5 years (Required)
• Biotechnology/Diagnostics Space: 5 years (Required)

Work Location: In person