Patent Engineer (Small Molecule Chemistry)

About Ankar

The way companies innovate is broken. The systems built to create and protect ideas can’t keep up with the pace of change. Today, 90% of S&P 500 company value is intangible (e.g., in intellectual property) - yet R&D and IP teams spend half their time buried in manual work, sifting through patents and paperwork instead of pushing the frontier forward. The tools of creating and protecting are stuck in the past. We’re here to fix that.

Ankar is building the AI operating system for innovation, reinventing how companies generate and protect their inventions. Our platform orchestrates how ideas become defensible IP with a suite of AI modules such as patent drafting, office action response, and infringement detection.

We’re at an inflection point:

• We’ve raised >$24M to date from Tier-1 VCs like Atomico, Index Ventures, Norrsken, Daphni, and angels from the industry.
• We’re already working with the world’s most innovative companies including Fortune 500 company L’Oréal and global law firm Vorys.
• Expanding our world-class team with alumni from Palantir, Amazon, and BCG to tackle the $1T+ innovation market.

We are growing our team and looking for people who take ownership of ambitious projects, solve complex & high-impact problems, and do the best work of their career.

What you’ll be doing

We’re looking for a patent professional with deep small molecule chemistry expertise who can bridge product development, engineering, and IP protection. You’ll work hands-on with pharmaceutical and biotech customers to design AI-powered patent solutions that understand the nuances of chemical structure, synthesis routes, formulations, and chemical patent drafting conventions.

• Build chemistry-specific patent products: Partner with product and engineering teams to develop AI tools tailored for small molecule patents — from structure-activity relationship analysis to formulation claim generation to prior art searching across chemical databases.
• Embed with pharma/biotech customers: Work directly with in-house patent counsel and patent prosecution teams at pharmaceutical companies to design, prototype, and deploy high-value proofs of concept for chemistry patent workflows.
• Shape product development with chemistry expertise: Translate complex patent chemistry challenges into product requirements - ensuring our AI understands Markush structures, chemical nomenclature, synthesis descriptions, and pharmaceutical claim drafting.
• Drive customer success in chemistry patents: Run technical sessions with patent professionals to ensure our products deliver measurable value for chemistry patent portfolios.
• Identify chemistry patent opportunities: Spot emerging needs across medicinal chemistry, process chemistry, formulation patents, and regulatory IP strategies.

What we are looking for

• Chemistry patent expertise: 2+ years of experience in chemical patent prosecution, pharmaceutical IP, or chemistry-focused patent work with deep understanding of small molecule patent lifecycle (from invention disclosure through grant and enforcement).
• Technical chemistry foundation: Strong grasp of organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry principles, synthetic routes, formulation science, and how these translate into patentable subject matter.
• Builder's mindset: You thrive in ambiguity, iterate quickly on prototypes, and love creating order from chaos. You can move between high-level patent strategy and detailed chemical claim construction.
• Extreme ownership: You see problems before they happen, take responsibility for outcomes, and deliver. This is how you grow—and how we win.
• Bonus points: Experience at patent law firms handling pharmaceutical/biotech clients, in-house patent counsel experience at pharma/biotech companies, or chemistry PhD combined with patent training.

What else you might want to know

• Location: Hoxton Square, London (we operate an office first policy with flexibility).
• Contract: Full-time.
• Compensation: We pay competitive salaries and will reward you with a substantial equity package under the tax-efficient EMI scheme.
• Visa sponsorship: Yes.