Patent Agent, Software
Hybrid (San Jose, CA)$150k - $220kfull-timePosted 4w ago
About the role
Patent Agent role to build the software side of Hark's patent portfolio, owning drafting and prosecution across models, inference systems, and platform software, shaping what to protect as research moves from experiment to product.
Responsibilities
- Build and execute the patent strategy for Hark's models, inference systems, and platform software, including portfolio architecture across foundation models, on-device deployment, agentic systems, and product software
- Work directly with research scientists, machine learning engineers, and infrastructure, platform, and mobile engineers to identify patentable inventions
- Draft and prosecute U.S. and international applications covering machine learning architectures, training and inference systems, and software platforms, with claim and specification strategy built to withstand subject-matter eligibility challenges under §101
- Prepare office action responses and conduct examiner interviews, including on Alice rejections, and develop prosecution strategies aimed at commercially meaningful claim scope
- Review research publications, technical blog posts, demos, and open source releases ahead of disclosure, managing bar dates and coordinating filings so that publishing does not cost the company coverage
- Advise on patent versus trade secret versus defensive publication, particularly for training methods, data pipelines, and inference optimizations
- Review and improve applications prepared by outside counsel, and work with international counsel on PCT and foreign prosecution strategy, including jurisdictions with stricter standards for computer-implemented inventions
- Conduct patentability and prior art analyses, monitor competitive patent activity, and support freedom-to-operate work ahead of product milestones
- Own inventorship determinations, assignment hygiene, and IDS practice across the portfolio
Qualifications
- Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, with an active registration number
- Bachelor's degree or higher in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or a closely related technical discipline
- 5+ years drafting and prosecuting software patent applications, at a firm, in-house, or both
- Deep working knowledge of §101 subject matter eligibility and a record of getting software claims allowed — you can articulate why a claim recites a technical improvement rather than an abstract idea, and you draft specifications that support that argument from the start
- Experience at an AI, software, or platform company — you know what happens to a filing plan when a research team wants to publish in three weeks
- Comfortable building in ambiguity — you've stood up prosecution processes from scratch, not just inherited them
- Hands-on by default; you're drafting, not just managing outside counsel
- Excellent written communication and exceptional attention to technical detail
Skills
Required:Subject-matter eligibility (§101)
Benefits
- The description mentions compensation and potential benefits as part of total package, to be shared if an employment offer is extended.
Last updated Sep 24, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About Hark
building the most advanced personal intelligence in the world.
At Hark, we are building the most advanced personal intelligence in the world.
personal intelligenceartificial intelligence
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