Roles / IP Licensing Business Manager

IP Licensing Business Manager

PMB-016v1

Product Management & BusinessBusinessIC5–IC7 / M3–M4IC or manager

Also known as: Licensing Manager; IP Commercialisation Manager; Patent Licensing Business Manager

See this role on the SoC lifecycle or on the Soft IP lifecycle

Summary

Monetises the company's IP portfolio — design IP, patents and standard-essential contributions — by structuring, negotiating and administering licence agreements that maximise long-term royalty and licence income.

A day in the life

Work in progressNo day-in-the-life description has been written for this role yet. If you do this work, we would welcome yours. Suggest a source or a correction

Responsibilities

Project

Work done for a product or program.

Advise engineering and product teams on freedom-to-operate implications and third-party licence needs.

Function

Work that keeps the discipline running: methods, tools, suppliers and people.

Structure licence agreements covering scope, field of use, territory, term, upfront fees, royalty rates and royalty caps.
Lead commercial negotiations with licensee business and legal teams alongside IP counsel.
Value IP assets and portfolios using comparable licence benchmarks, income and cost approaches for licensing and litigation support.
Administer royalty reporting, audit rights and compliance across the licensee base with licensing operations.
Manage FRAND obligations and standard-essential patent commitments where the company participates in standards bodies.
Support patent assertion and defensive licensing strategy with legal, including claim-chart-backed negotiation positions.
Identify new monetisation opportunities from underused portfolio assets, including divestiture or sale to patent buyers.
Forecast licence and royalty revenue for financial planning, including risk-adjusted pipeline of pending negotiations.
Maintain the licence agreement repository and ensure obligations, renewals and change-of-control clauses are tracked.

Major tasks

Project

Produce and hand over the role's key deliverables
- Executed licence agreements and term sheets
- IP valuation analyses and royalty rate benchmarks
- Royalty reporting, audit and compliance framework
- Licence and royalty revenue forecast
- Portfolio monetisation strategy and target licensee list
- Obligation and renewal tracking register
Define the productGeneral
- Gather customer and market requirements
- Write the business case
- Agree the requirements with engineering
Take it to marketGeneral
- Plan the launch
- Set pricing
- Support key customers

Function

Manage the portfolioGeneral
- Keep the roadmap current
- Review product performance
Understand the marketGeneral
- Follow competitors and trends
- Maintain forecasts

Works with

IP Counsel
Silicon IP Product Managers
Corporate Development
Finance/Revenue Accounting
R&D Leadership
External Licensee Executives
Standards Delegates

Typical backgrounds

Engineering degree plus JD, MBA or IP management qualification; 10–20 years across licensing, IP strategy, business development or patent law.

Demand signal

0 open listings right now
0 Talent Wafer employer inquiries

Counts live listings tagged to this role, and employer interest in candidates from Talent Wafer runs for this role (all runs to date). Hub activity only, not the wider market.

Comp tier (within semis)

4 / 5

Remote feasibility

High

Semis core vs. portable

Semis-primary, transfers

Geographic hotspots

San Jose, San Diego, Cambridge UK, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Munich, Shenzhen

Certifications / standards training

Certified Licensing Professional (CLP); LES training; Patent Agent registration where applicable

Transfers to (industries)

Telecommunications, consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals, media and entertainment licensing

Risk if vacant

Royalty streams go unaudited and expiring agreements lapse unrenegotiated, while infringing use of the portfolio continues without any commercial response.

IP Licensing Business Manager

Summary

A day in the life

Responsibilities

Project

Function

Major tasks

Project

Function

Works with

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