Specific Responsibilities

Cisco is seeking a chief portfolio strategist to take the award-winning Cisco patent portfolio to the next level. The chief portfolio strategist will be a world-class thought leader with significant experience operating at the intersection of intellectual property, business, and technology. The overall responsibility is to shape the development and use of the portfolio to navigate Cisco through the rapidly evolving IP landscape. The chief portfolio strategist will be part of a centralized IP function reporting to the Vice President of Intellectual Property and partner closely with the IP Support integrated into Legal teams supporting key business segments as well as with business and technology leaders across the company. The chief portfolio strategist will aggregate business and technology intelligence and translate that into impactful and constructive steps to assure freedom of operation vis-a-vis operating company portfolios. Requirements include extensive practical experience with intellectual property as well as technology and business savvy. Excellent communication skills, maturity, judgment, and ability to prioritize in fast-changing environment are a must.

BACKGROUND REQUIREMENTS

•Must have a minimum of 12 to 15+ years of experience in portfolio development and licensing.

•Extensive experience with hands-on portfolio development in a business context.

•Bachelor Degree in EE or CS or significant software experience required. Masters degree in EE or CS preferred.

•Registration with USPTO.

•JD preferred but will consider MBA with significant intellectual property experience and aptitude

•Computer or Telecommunications industry experience.

SKILLS REQUIREMENTS:

•Detailed knowledge and understanding of, and on-hands experience in, patent field.

•Able to understand and quickly grasp different areas of technology; able to see and articulate cross-connections among business, technology, and intellectual property issues.

•Strategic, creative thinker with excellent communication, business judgment, problem solving, organizational and follow-through skills.

•Able to translate long term strategy into practical steps.

•Ability to communicate articulately and persuasively with different levels of the organization, including the Engineering community, senior executives and senior managers.

•Must be a strong team player who thrives in a collaborative and dynamic environment.

•Familiarity with multinational/international patent law and practices is a plus.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Patent Landscape Assessment
The chief portfolio strategist will make and continue to refine a practical assessment of the IP landscape focusing on leading IT companies and in sufficient detail to guide decision making about portfolio development and IP strategy. The assessment will be based on high-level patent analytics, business intelligence, practical forecasting of anticipated technical developments, as well as Financial modeling.

Patent Strategy Development and Implementation:

The chief portfolio strategist will formulate an overall Cisco portfolio development strategy based on the IP landscape, Cisco's business priorities, as well as detailed interchange with senior Cisco technology and business leaders. The chief portfolio strategist will partner with Legal department, engineering, and business colleagues to devise and execute realistic and impactful steps to implement the strategy.


Knowledge, Experience and Skills

Experienced - Non Manager