Intellectual Property Counsel EMEA

About the role

We have a fabulous opportunity for an experienced and proactive professional to join our team as Intellectual Property Counsel – EMEA. In this key role, you will take operational responsibility for managing the company’s intellectual property portfolio across the EMEA region, acting as a vital resource for the business and ensuring the robust protection, prosecution, and commercialisation of our innovations.

The successful candidate will be an advocate for IP excellence, collaborating closely with inventors, R&D teams, commercial leaders, and external IP advisers to deliver a proactive IP strategy. You will provide the essential legal expertise, technical guidance, and operational coordination required to safeguard our patents, designs, trademarks, trade secrets, and domain names across a broad international portfolio, while directly supervising an IP Paralegal.

Reporting to the Chief Counsel, this role offers significant autonomy, exposure to cutting-edge development projects, and the opportunity to help shape the Group’s wider IP governance and commercial strategy in a sustainable, innovation-led manufacturing business.

Key responsibilities include:

• Portfolio Management: Lead the day-to-day filing, prosecution, and maintenance of EMEA patent, design, trademark, and domain portfolios with external counsel
• Invention Capture: Partner with R&D and engineering teams to identify protectable inventions, assess patentability, and support IP evaluation committees
• Commercial Contracting: Draft, review, and negotiate IP clauses across R&D collaborations, joint development, licensing, and supplier/customer agreements
• Risk & Enforcement: Manage freedom-to-operate reviews, assess infringement risks, and coordinate routine cease-and-desist or domain dispute actions
• Governance & Training: Deliver internal training on trade secrets, confidentiality, and invention disclosures while supporting portfolio reviews and budgeting
• Team Supervision: Supervise and mentor the IP Paralegal, ensuring efficient workflow allocation and alignment with external advisers

So, if you are a commercially minded IP professional with strong technical curiosity and a commitment to high-standard governance, then we might be looking for you!

About you

• Demonstrable relevant IP experience gained in-house, private practice, or a combination; manufacturing/industrial experience is desirable
• Strong background in patent prosecution and working with inventors, alongside solid knowledge of trademarks, designs, and trade secrets
• Proven ability to draft and negotiate complex IP provisions in development, licensing, and commercial contracts
• Excellent communication and analytical skills, able to translate complex technical/legal concepts and influence across EMEA
• Proactive self-starter with proven capability to manage external counsel, track budgets, and supervise junior team members

Benefits

• Competitive salary & Benefits
• 25 days annual holiday plus bank holidays
• Pension scheme, life assurance and income protection
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Employee Discounts
• Cycle to work scheme

Location: This is a hybrid role, split between the London Paddington office (3 days) and home (2 days) with occasional travel if needed.

About us

We are DS Smith, together with International Paper, we are a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions and other fibre-based products. We believe a better, more sustainable tomorrow is possible with the right people, who challenge and support one another to enact positive change. We employ more than 65,000 colleagues in North America and Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), who are experts in innovation, manufacturing, design, sales, sustainability, supply chain, and much more. Together with our customers, we make the world safer and more productive, one sustainable packaging solution at a time. Become part of a world-leading organisation and do your best work with us!

Fair recruitment at DS Smith

To fulfil our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated, and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.

Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bring different perspectives, ideas, and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria.

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