Scientist Competitive Insights & Foresight

at  Philip Morris International

Be a part of a revolutionary change:
At PMI, we’ve chosen to do something incredible. We’re totally transforming our business, and building our future on smoke-free products with the power to deliver a smoke-free future worldwide.
With huge change, comes huge opportunity. So, wherever you join us, you’ll enjoy the freedom to dream up and deliver better, brighter solutions and the space to move your career forward in endlessly different directions.
Wherever you join our crucial 47,000-strong Operations team, you’ll have the opportunity to make an impact. PMI’s shift from selling cigarettes to our new smoke-free products has changed the way we work. New products bring new challenges – in the way we source and buy raw materials, in the way we engineer and manufacture, and in our supply chain planning.
Your ‘day to day’:
As a Patent Engineer - Scientist Competitive Insights & Foresight you will monitor third party data (patent publications, public IP information, presentations, commercial deals) for technologies and products of potential interest to PMI/R&D. A further purpose is to determine together with subject matter and legal experts the true relevance of such technologies for current and future product pipeline, report to various stakeholders, perform prior technology landscape searches and recommend actions.

Your Responsibilities:

• Drive and manage comprehensive and focused benchmarking studies of publicly available information, including patent publications of third parties (including major tobacco industry, product & technology competitors) relating to products and key technologies of potential interest.
• Consult and assist subject matter experts for opinion and report relevant or interesting applications and technologies or products to product development team, manager, management and legal dept. Present regular executive overviews across departments.
• Develop and maintain a governance structure and process to timely report on certain events relating to third party patent filings and applications such as change of ownership, filing of divisional application, and proceed to grant. Report on such and trends in the tobacco industry relating to reduced risk products and provide actionable recommendations.
• Prepare formal reports and summary dashboards with statistics & technical content on competitor filings and technologies of business relevance. Regular presentations to management.
• Provide comprehensive and focused patent evaluations to assess relevance and value for PMI inventions and product portfolio. Provide feedback to different stakeholders.
• Provide technical guidance in the area of expertise; help to capture inventions, facilitate technology landscape searches, provide technical/scientific support to other functions. Drive ringfencing exercises as well as white spacing.
• Establish effective working relationship with PTI service providers, manage scope and quality of deliverables related to competitive data monitoring, analysis, and reporting to achieve objectives on a timely basis.

Who we’re looking for:

• University/Engineering master degree / Ph.D. in science or technology.
• Technical understanding of reduced risk smoking articles and technologies.
• Qualified as a national or European patent attorney or ability to demonstrate extensive experience with patenting procedures and patents.
• Experience in setting up, maintaining and searching in databases; understanding of patent databases is a must.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Proficiency in both orally and written communication skills.
• Substantial experience in effective teamwork and within cross-functional project organization.
• Fluency in both written and spoken English is a must. A good working command in French and/or German is an asset.

Employment Type: Permanent
Relocation package offered

Our success depends on the people who come to work every single day with a sense of purpose and an appetite for progress. Join PMI and you too can:

• Seize the freedom to define your future and ours. We’ll empower you to take risks, experiment and explore.
• Be part of an inclusive, diverse culture, where everyone’s contribution is respected; collaborate with some of the world’s best people and feel like you belong.
• Pursue your ambitions and develop your skills with a global business – our staggering size and scale provides endless opportunities to progress.
• Take pride in delivering our promise to society: to deliver a smoke-free future worldwide.

Philip Morris Manufacturing & Technology Bologna (PM MTB):
PM MTB is Philip Morris International’s Center of excellence, worldwide recognized for prototyping, mass-volume production and employees’ training on smoke-free products. PM MTB employs more than 1000 employees and its production site of Crespellano is one of the most advanced manufacturing venues in Italy for technology innovation, competencies development and talent recognition. In 2019, Philip Morris Manufacturing & Technology Bologna has been awarded as Top Employer for the sixth year in a row. In the same year, was also granted the Equal Salary Certification certificate by the homonymous foundation to certify that men and women are paid equally for equivalent work.
Bring us your curiosity and a desire to challenge the everyday and we’ll give you lots of responsibility. You’ll help us improve, inject innovation and create new ways of working. You’ll be solving supply chain problems that span the whole world: a smoke-free world

Your Responsibilities:

• Drive and manage comprehensive and focused benchmarking studies of publicly available information, including patent publications of third parties (including major tobacco industry, product & technology competitors) relating to products and key technologies of potential interest.
• Consult and assist subject matter experts for opinion and report relevant or interesting applications and technologies or products to product development team, manager, management and legal dept. Present regular executive overviews across departments.
• Develop and maintain a governance structure and process to timely report on certain events relating to third party patent filings and applications such as change of ownership, filing of divisional application, and proceed to grant. Report on such and trends in the tobacco industry relating to reduced risk products and provide actionable recommendations.
• Prepare formal reports and summary dashboards with statistics & technical content on competitor filings and technologies of business relevance. Regular presentations to management.
• Provide comprehensive and focused patent evaluations to assess relevance and value for PMI inventions and product portfolio. Provide feedback to different stakeholders.
• Provide technical guidance in the area of expertise; help to capture inventions, facilitate technology landscape searches, provide technical/scientific support to other functions. Drive ringfencing exercises as well as white spacing.
• Establish effective working relationship with PTI service providers, manage scope and quality of deliverables related to competitive data monitoring, analysis, and reporting to achieve objectives on a timely basis

Our success depends on the people who come to work every single day with a sense of purpose and an appetite for progress. Join PMI and you too can:

• Seize the freedom to define your future and ours. We’ll empower you to take risks, experiment and explore.
• Be part of an inclusive, diverse culture, where everyone’s contribution is respected; collaborate with some of the world’s best people and feel like you belong.
• Pursue your ambitions and develop your skills with a global business – our staggering size and scale provides endless opportunities to progress.
• Take pride in delivering our promise to society: to deliver a smoke-free future worldwide