Senior Director, Head of Trademarks

Responsibilities

• Portfolio leadership
• Own and manage a large global trademark portfolio encompassing pharmaceutical product names, consumer brand marks, trade dress, and device/surgical brands across 100+ jurisdictions.
• Develop and implement portfolio strategy including clearance, prosecution, maintenance, and enforcement priorities aligned to commercial objectives.
• Leverage AI-powered tools and automation platforms to drive efficiency, reduce cost, and improve quality in portfolio management, watch services, and prosecution workflows.
• Oversee and direct relationships with outside counsel globally, managing cost and ensuring strategic alignment.
• Pharmaceutical & consumer brand naming
• Lead trademark clearance and protection strategy for new pharmaceutical product names in coordination with regulatory, medical affairs, and commercial branding teams.
• Navigate complex regulatory naming requirements across global markets.
• Provide strategic counsel on consumer product brand naming, line extensions, brand architecture decisions, and trade dress development.
• Anti-counterfeit monitoring & enforcement
• Design and lead a comprehensive anti-counterfeit monitoring program covering online marketplaces, social platforms, physical goods, and grey market activity.
• Direct enforcement actions including cease-and-desist campaigns, platform takedowns, Customs recordation, and, where appropriate, civil litigation or criminal referrals.
• Collaborate with supply chain, regulatory, and government affairs teams on brand protection and product authentication initiatives.
• Stay current on emerging counterfeit threats in the ophthalmic pharmaceutical and consumer lens care space and adapt enforcement strategy accordingly.
• Cross-functional leadership
• Act as the primary legal advisor on trademark matters to brand, marketing, commercial, regulatory, and R&D teams globally.
• Persistently partner with M&A and business development teams on IP due diligence and post-acquisition trademark integration.
• Build and mentor a high-performing internal trademarks team and foster a culture of proactive brand protection.
• Present regularly to senior leadership and the board on portfolio health, enforcement activity, and emerging risks.

Qualifications

• J.D. from an accredited law school and active bar membership (U.S. required; additional jurisdictions a plus).
• 7+ years of trademark law experience, with a meaningful portion in-house at a global pharmaceutical, consumer goods, or medical device company or law firm experience representing pharmaceutical or consumer goods.
• Deep expertise in pharmaceutical and consumer product naming
• Demonstrated experience managing large-scale global trademark portfolios (10,000+ marks strongly preferred).
• Hands-on experience with AI-driven trademark tools and/or enthusiasm for adopting automation to scale the function.
• Strong track record of cross-functional collaboration and executive communication.
• Experience managing outside counsel networks.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing and developing legal team members.
• Substantial experience designing and executing anti-counterfeit monitoring programs and enforcement actions, including platform enforcement (Amazon, Walmart, Ebay , etc.), Customs recordation, and civil litigation.
• Proficiency in trademark management platforms such as Anaqua.
• Experience with post-merger IP integration in a complex multinational environment