Patent Counsel, Attorney

Nuvia

Nuvia

Legal
San Diego, CA, USA
USD 161k-241,400 / year + Equity
Posted on Dec 16, 2025


Company:

Qualcomm Incorporated

Job Area:

Legal Group, Legal Group > Patent Counsel

General Summary:

Develops, prosecutes, and manages high-quality patents, and maximizes the utilization of the patent portfolio. Manages a patent portfolio and provides guidance on patent related issues to support IP department initiatives based on knowledge of laws, legal principles, and department policies. Manages and collaborates with outside counsel across multiple jurisdictions for strategic preparation and prosecution of patent assets. Collaborates with engineering and product teams to develop understanding of product roadmaps to identify and advise on potential areas for IP development. Performs comprehensive patent and legal analysis to drive decisions on patents. Strategically transform inventions into patent assets based on knowledge of products, technology, engineering principles, and business goals. Partners with engineers, outside counsel, support staff, and other business leaders to optimize work product.

This role requires full-time onsite work in our San Diego, CA office (5 days per week).

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field.
• Juris Doctorate from ABA accredited law school.
• US: Admitted to a state bar in good standing.
• 2+ years of experience in patent preparation, prosecution, or litigation experience.
• Appropriately registered/licensed in candidate’s applicable jurisdiction.

Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field.

  • Juris Doctorate from ABA accredited law school.

  • Admitted to a state bar in good standing and registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Applicants must be willing to register as in-house counsel with the California state bar if not already a member of the California state bar.

  • 3+ years of experience in patent preparation, prosecution, or litigation experience.


Preferred Qualifications:

  • Master's degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field.

  • 5+ years of patent law experience at a law firm or in-house.

  • 3+ years of experience in patent preparation and prosecution related to System on Chip (SoC), processors (CPU, NPU, DSP, and/or GPU), Artificial Intelligence (AI), memory design, low power circuitry, or location technologies.

  • 2+ years of engineering experience in software, electrical, communications, or related fields.

  • 2+ years of managing a patent portfolio, including budgets.

  • 2+ years of experience in patent litigation.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develops patents and supports the patent portfolio based on knowledge of products, technology, and engineering principles related to one's portfolio.
• Helps to identify areas or technologies related to one's portfolio that need more or less IP protection.
• Maintains up-to-date awareness of domestic and foreign patent laws, rules, and best practices to prepare and prosecute patents worldwide.
• Analyzes strategic importance of claims, assesses prior art, and develops arguments to present to patent offices.
• Conducts patent analyses (e.g., infringement, validity) with minimal guidance to make recommendations around litigating, protecting, and/or licensing patents.
• Develops claim chart analyses that account for all patent related information to support licensing and enforcement activities.
• Provides advice and support on IP department initiatives and legal matters based on knowledge of laws, department policies, best practices, and legal risks.
• Works with team to recommend decisions to appeal, continue prosecution, and/or file continuation/divisional applications based on legal analysis.
• Reviews work of support staff and outside counsel to ensure work product is aligned with strategies and plans.
• Manages dockets, cases, and/or initiatives by planning resources (e.g., staff, time, tools), aligning on expectations for work product and deliverables, and tracking progress against milestones.
• Collaborates with engineering teams to collect, develop, and promote submission of inventions to support portfolio development.
• Keeps leaders, team members, and stakeholders properly updated on the status of work assignments, seeking guidance when necessary.
• Participates in and leads discussions, meetings, and portfolio and/or case reviews with colleagues to address requirements and understand implications of one's work.

Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail disability-accomodations@qualcomm.com or call Qualcomm's toll-free number found here. Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).

To all Staffing and Recruiting Agencies: Our Careers Site is only for individuals seeking a job at Qualcomm. Staffing and recruiting agencies and individuals being represented by an agency are not authorized to use this site or to submit profiles, applications or resumes, and any such submissions will be considered unsolicited. Qualcomm does not accept unsolicited resumes or applications from agencies. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Qualcomm employees or any other company location. Qualcomm is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/applications.

EEO Employer: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification.

Qualcomm expects its employees to abide by all applicable policies and procedures, including but not limited to security and other requirements regarding protection of Company confidential information and other confidential and/or proprietary information, to the extent those requirements are permissible under applicable law.

Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits:

$161,000.00 - $241,400.00

The above pay scale reflects the broad, minimum to maximum, pay scale for this job code for the location for which it has been posted. Even more importantly, please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Qualcomm. We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that Qualcomm has to offer – and you can review more details about our US benefits at this link.

If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers.