A Senior Examiner of Patents actively contributes to the management and leadership of an examination section under limited direction from the Supervising Examiner of Patents (EL2). The typical examination section has around 30 staff including a Supervising Examiner, 4-5 Senior Examiners and approximately 25 Examiners.

Each Senior Examiner will lead and directly manage a small team of staff, including trainees. Coaching and training new staff to achieve Acceptance Delegation via a Competency Based Training program is an important responsibility of the role. Senior Examiners support senior management to foster inclusive and high performing teams and expected to take on initiatives and projects, to deliver on IP Australia’s strategic and operational priorities.

Specific duties of a Senior Examiner of Patents include:

Working collaboratively with the section management team to effectively lead and manage the operation and direction of the section and deliver the section's commitments

Contribute to building and maintaining a culture of high performance, including leading a team of patent examiners, fostering an inclusive and safe environment, mentoring and developing staff, assessing staff performance, providing feedback, and encouraging staff to reach personal, section and corporate goals

Establishing clear expectations and creating a productive environment to achieve stated goals and objectives, taking ownership and honouring commitments

Providing on-the-job patent examination training and coaching to trainee examiners and contributing to their competency-based assessment process

Reviewing and supervising examination work as part of the quality review process

Directly contributing to the section’s overall production commitments through undertaking examination work and contributing to priority tasks

Participating in group and corporate projects as required, and representing the section in various fora

Exercising appropriate powers, authority, delegations and discretion under the Patents Act 1990

Demonstrating attitudes and behaviours responsive to workplace change (including participating in and encouraging others to participate in change and contributing to successful outcomes)

Improving organisational performance through effective engagement with and management of risk within relevant sphere of influence

Maintaining an understanding of their/worker responsibilities under the Work Health & Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) and a commitment to promoting a healthy and safe workplace

Looking for more information?

For more information about this role, including the type of person we are looking for, please refer to the candidate kit available by clicking the 'Apply Now' button.

Applications close at 11:55pm on Wednesday 11 June 2025.