Specialist, Sr Intellectual Property

Kubota • Grapevine, TX

4d • Onsite

About The Position

Kubota’s North American Headquarters is seeking a highly skilled IP Specialist to support and advance the company’s intellectual property strategy. This role plays a critical part in protecting innovation, strengthening Kubota’s competitive position, and enabling successful commercialization across diverse product lines.

The IP Specialist leads execution of Kubota’s intellectual property initiatives, including invention harvesting, patent portfolio development, competitive intelligence, commercialization support, and cross‑functional collaboration. The role partners closely with engineering, R&D, product teams, and outside counsel to ensure Kubota’s IP assets are strategically developed, protected, and leveraged.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical discipline or equivalent experience; advanced degree in engineering or law preferred.
• 8+ years of industry experience in patent portfolio development, patent searching, analytics, competitive intelligence, commercialization support, or related IP functions.
• Experience leading invention harvesting and strong working knowledge of patent and trade secret practices; experience supporting licensing, litigation, or enforcement preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct patentability, FTO, and landscape analyses, manage outside counsel, and use patent search/analytics tools.
• Proven ability to independently manage complex IP matters with strong technical, analytical, and communication skills.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in vehicle autonomy and/or connectivity (telemetry, communication systems, data integration) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Partner with engineering, R&D, and product teams to identify patentable innovations aligned with business objectives.
• Lead creation, evaluation, and strategic growth of Kubota’s patent portfolio.
• Conduct patentability, freedom‑to‑operate (FTO), landscape, and competitive intelligence analyses to support portfolio decisions, commercialization, and risk management.
• Track emerging technologies and competitor IP activity.
• Support invention disclosures, filing strategy, prosecution, docket oversight, and maintenance decisions.
• Contribute to licensing, litigation, enforcement, IP agreements, and due‑diligence activities through technical analysis and stakeholder coordination.
• Advise teams on patent, trade secret, and trademark strategy; deliver IP awareness training.
• Other duties as assigned.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior