Senior Legal Specialist – Intellectual Property

About Fondazione Chips-IT The Foundation "Italian Center for the Design of Semiconductor Integrated Circuits," also known as the Chips-IT Foundation, is a nonprofit research and technology organization under the supervision of the Ministries of Industry.
The Foundation is Italy's first RTO (Research and Technology Organization) vertically focused on semiconductor research and stands as a center of excellence in frontier research on semiconductor design, as well as a pivotal center of the Italian semiconductor ecosystem and expertise.
Promote the design and development of integrated circuits
Strengthen the system of professional training in the field of microelectronics
Ensure the establishment of a network of universities, research centers and enterprises that fosters innovation and technology transfer in the field
Posizione Fondazione Chips-IT is seeking a
About Fondazione Chips-IT The Foundation "Italian Center for the Design of Semiconductor Integrated Circuits," also known as the Chips-IT Foundation, is a nonprofit research and technology organization under the supervision of the Ministries of Industry.
The Foundation is Italy's first RTO (Research and Technology Organization) vertically focused on semiconductor research and stands as a center of excellence in frontier research on semiconductor design, as well as a pivotal center of the Italian semiconductor ecosystem and expertise.
Promote the design and development of integrated circuits
Strengthen the system of professional training in the field of microelectronics
Ensure the establishment of a network of universities, research centers and enterprises that fosters innovation and technology transfer in the field
Missions Of The Foundation Promote the design and development of integrated circuits
Strengthen the system of professional training in the field of microelectronics
Ensure the establishment of a network of universities, research centers and enterprises that fosters innovation and technology transfer in the field
Posizione Fondazione Chips-IT is seeking a Senior Legal Specialist – Intellectual Property & Industrial Property to act as the legal backbone of the Fondazione's research collaborations, technology transfer activity and intellectual property portfolio. As industrial partnerships and research results grow, this role ensures that every collaboration, licence and spin-off rests on solid, negotiated and enforceable legal ground.
The core of the position is transactional. The Senior Legal Specialist drafts and negotiates the agreements through which the Fondazione works with industry, universities, start-ups and consortia — from non-disclosure and material transfer agreements to collaborative research, joint development, licensing and spin-off arrangements — and owns the intellectual property architecture within them: ownership and allocation of background and foreground, access rights, confidentiality, publication and exploitation.
Alongside the transactional mandate, the role supports, within the team, the management of the Fondazione's IP portfolio from both a legal and strategic perspective: managing the relationship with external patent firms, taking part in the process that leads from an invention disclosure to a filing decision, and overseeing prosecution, deadlines and budget.
The position is part of the Fondazione's Legal function and works in close partnership with the Industrial Partnerships & Technology Transfer Directorate, which provides functional direction and operational priorities.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Draft, review and negotiate the Fondazione's contractual instruments with industrial and academic partners: NDAs, MTAs, collaborative and contract research agreements, joint development agreements, framework partnership agreements, consortium agreements, and service and infrastructure-access agreements.
Own the intellectual property terms of every agreement — ownership, background and foreground allocation, access rights, improvements, confidentiality, publication and exploitation rights — and ensure consistency across the Fondazione's contractual portfolio.
Support the structuring and negotiation of technology transfer transactions: licence and option agreements, assignments, term sheets and royalty structures, working with the Technology Transfer function on commercial terms and valuation.
Provide the legal architecture for spin-off and start-up creation: IP assignment and contribution, founder and researcher arrangements, equity and conflict-of-interest management.
Support the management of the IP portfolio: take part in the invention-disclosure-to-filing decision process together with the Technology Transfer function and the inventors, and steer external patent