Technical Advisor, Intellectual Property

Carvana • Tempe, AZ

7d • Onsite

About The Position

As a Technical Advisor on the Intellectual Property team, you will be deeply involved in a diverse range of activities, supporting Carvana's IP attorneys. Key responsibilities include: Patent Work: Participating in patent-related protection and prosecution, including harvesting efforts working directly with engineering teams. Patent Litigation Support: Assisting with pre-litigation and litigation needs, including patent claims and discovery matters. Policy & Governance: Contributing to AI governance and policy development. This role involves significant collaboration with a variety of stakeholders, including engineers, product developers, technology leaders, and members of the broader legal team. You will report directly to a lawyer within the Intellectual Property and Marketing team.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 3-5 years of experience with software development in one or more programming languages.
• Experience with enterprise software architecture including: Microservices architecture and API design patterns Event-driven systems (Kafka, message queues) Cloud data platforms (Snowflake or similar data warehouses)
• Proficiency with source control and DevOps practices: Git version control Azure DevOps for CI/CD pipelines and project management Infrastructure as code and automated deployments
• Experience with the patent litigation/prosecution or with providing technical analysis in intellectual property matters (at a law firm or in-house)
• Ability to communicate complex technical landscapes
• Must be able to read, write, speak and understand English.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s in Computer Science or related field
• Experience with software development, including source code authoring and review, across multiple programming languages
• 3-5 years of experience with full-stack development, with an emphasis on: Back-end: C#/.NET Core, ASP.NET Core Web APIs, Java, Python, or Go; Front-end: JavaScript/TypeScript, React, HTML/CSS; Microsoft Azure cloud platform and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Ability to develop software/AI tools or scripts to automate tasks and improve team efficiency.
• Ability to learn and apply new programming languages and technologies
• Experience working at in-house or law firm with patent litigation or patent prosecution teams

Responsibilities

• Work with Legal, Engineering, and Product teams to identify and gather technical information relevant to litigation and dispute matters.
• Build and maintain a deep understanding of Carvana’s engineering systems—including backend services, architecture, APIs, databases, machine learning pipelines, and operational processes.
• Support responses to litigation discovery requests by locating and interpreting technical documentation, source code, logs, architecture diagrams, and data flows.
• Participate in Carvana’s patent harvesting process by helping engineers articulate innovations and mapping them to potential filings.
• Assist IP attorneys and outside counsel in preparing technical disclosures and shepherding patent prosecution matters.

Benefits

• Full-Time position with a competitive salary
• Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits
• 401K with company match
• A multitude of perks including student loan payments, discounts on vehicles, benefits for your pets, and much more
• A great wellness program to keep you healthy and happy both physically and mentally
• Access to opportunities to expand your skill set and share your knowledge with others across the organization
• A company culture focused on high performance and bar-raising, with vast opportunity to learn and grow

What This Job Offers

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