人才招聘

Company Overview

Yicura is a clinical stage biotechnology group based in the Hong Kong Science Park, focusing on research and development of innovative DNA medicines and antibody immunotherapies to fight against cancers, inflammatory and infectious diseases based on its patented PD-1-enhanced DNA Vaccine, Anti-Δ42PD1 Antibody; and Vaccine Delivery platforms.

Role summary:

We are seeking a visionary and highly experienced IP and Legal Director to serve as the strategic backbone of our innovation engine. As we continue to advance our pipeline in biologics, you will lead the global intellectual property strategy, ensuring robust protection and proactive risk management from target discoveries through clinical development.

This is a pivotal role for an expert who possesses a rare blend of deep scientific knowledge and comprehensive legal acumen. You will act as a bridge between our R&D teams, global legal counsel, and business development units to secure our competitive advantage in the international market.

Key responsibilities:

• Strategic IP Management: Lead the development and execution of global intellectual property strategies, specifically managing patent portfolios for biotechnology and pharmaceutical assets.
• FTO & Risk Mitigation: Execute comprehensive Freedom to Operate (FTO) and landscape analyses for lead candidates; formulate invalidity arguments against third-party patents to safeguard investments.
• Patent Prosecution & Counseling: Oversee the drafting, filing, and prosecution of complex patent applications; provide expert legal counsel on patentability, freedom-to-operate, validity, and infringement assessments.
• Regulatory Liaison: Act as the primary legal interface with regulatory bodies and international patent offices to ensure full compliance with evolving standards in the U.S. and international jurisdictions.
• Transaction Support: Provide comprehensive legal support for high-stakes corporate transactions, including licensing agreements, joint ventures, and M&A activities within the life sciences sector.
• Litigation Oversight: Manage external counsel in patent litigation and dispute resolution matters, ensuring alignment with corporate risk management objectives.
• Technical Advisory: Leverage a deep background in Medicine and Microbiology to bridge the gap between complex R&D innovations and legal protection, ensuring robust IP protection and lifecycle management.
• AI & Next-Gen Innovation: To define IP strategies for AI-enabled antibody discovery and next-generation ADC platforms.

Requirements:

• Education: Juris Doctor (J.D.), a degree in Microbiology or Immunology, and Bachelor of Medicine (M.D.).
• Experience: 20+ years of legal and intellectual property experience specifically within biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors
• Regulatory Expertise: Comprehensive knowledge in Patentability and Freedom to Operate (FTO) for complex biologics, with specialized focus on bispecific/multi-specific antibodies and next-generation Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs).
• Language Proficiency: Native or professional fluency in both English and Chinese is essential.
• Preferred Qualifications: Admission to the Bar and registration as a USPTO Patent Attorney are highly desirable.

Benefits:

• 5 working days
• 17+ days annual leave
• Birthday leave
• Medical insurance
• Performance bonus
• ESOP

Compensation: HK$1.5M+ per annum (commensurate with experience)

The Job:

• Lead the design, development, implementation, and optimization of AI-driven computational pipelines to identify and prioritize therapeutic targets from multi-omics datasets (WES, RNA-seq, etc)
• Collaborate with immunologists and cancer biologists to inform the design and validation of novel precision immunotherapy strategies.
• Provide expert bioinformatics leadership and liaise between the internal R&D team and external collaborators to facilitate knowledge exchange and ensure strategic alignment.
• Uphold the highest scientific standards in all research outputs through rigorous validation, documentation, and reproducibility practices.
• Present research findings at internal and external forums; contribute to grant and manuscript preparation.
• Keep up with the latest literatures in related scientific fields and inform the team to advance future project and pipeline development.

Requirements:

• Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, AI, or a related field, preferably with strong background in AI-driven target discovery and immunoinformatics.
• Advanced proficiency in Python and working knowledge of other programming languages such as R, Java, JavaScript, or C++. 
• Proven experience in processing high-dimensional biological datasets, including next-generation sequencing analysis.
• Experience in cloud computing environments or high-performance computing clusters is a distinct advantage.
• Track record of publications or patents showing competence in relevant fields.
• Proactive work attitude, detail-orientated, excellent leadership and interpersonal coordination skills.
• Good communication and presentation skills, good command of English and Chinese (Cantonese and Putonghua).

Benefits:

• 5 working days
• 14-18 days annual leave
• Birthday leave
• Medical insurance
• Performance bonus
• ESOP

Competitive salary commensurate with qualifications and experience.