AI Patent Counsel

To get the best candidate experience, please consider applying for a maximum of 3 roles within 12 months to ensure you are not duplicating efforts.

Job Category

Global Affairs

Job Details

About Salesforce

We’re Salesforce, the Customer Company, inspiring the future of business with AI+ Data +CRM. Leading with our core values, we help companies across every industry blaze new trails and connect with customers in a whole new way. And, we empower you to be a Trailblazer, too — driving your performance and career growth, charting new paths, and improving the state of the world. If you believe in business as the greatest platform for change and in companies doing well and doing good – you’ve come to the right place.

We are looking for a strategic, business-minded AI Patent Counsel to help lead and scale Salesforce’s patent function in this pivotal era of AI-first innovation.
The successful candidate will help drive global patent strategy across AI, ML, Agentforce, Data Cloud, Einstein 1, and the expanding AI CRM platform — securing competitive advantage, enabling growth, and strengthening trust with our customers and society.

This is a high-impact role partnering with technical, business, and product leaders across Salesforce.
Key Responsibilities

• Help develop and execute a comprehensive global patent strategy to protect Salesforce’s innovations across Agentforce, AI/ML, the deeply unified platform, Data Cloud, CRM applications, and emerging areas like autonomous agents and AI copilots.

• Portfolio Development and Management:

  • Build a high-quality, high-value patent portfolio that enables Salesforce’s business strategies, strengthens our moat in AI and agentic technologies, and aligns with global regulatory, customer, and partner dynamics.

• Innovation Harvesting for Next-Gen AI:

  • Partner closely with technical teams to identify and capture breakthrough inventions in AI orchestration, agentic platforms, data pipelines, trust architectures, metadata frameworks, and dynamic AI-human collaboration.

• Operational Excellence:

  • Help lead day-to-day patent operations, external counsel relationships, ensuring efficiency, quality, and strategic impact at global scale.

• Business Enablement and Risk Management:

  • Provide actionable, business-oriented counseling on patent risks (e.g., freedom-to-operate, third-party assertions) across Salesforce’s AI, data, and platform initiatives — enabling innovation while protecting strategic flexibility.

• Cross-Functional Partnership:

  • Collaborate with Product, Engineering, Corporate Development, Trust, Government Affairs, and Litigation teams to align patent strategies with product launches, strategic partnerships, M&A, AI policy engagement, and litigation risk management.

• Leadership and Team Development:

  • Mentor and guide patent attorneys, agents, and professionals to build a high-performing, forward-thinking patent team equipped for the AI-first future.

• Special Strategic Projects:

  • Lead or contribute to special projects involving AI-related IP policy shaping, standards body participation, ecosystem defense strategies, and next-generation IP risk modeling.

Qualifications

• J.D. and admission to practice before the USPTO.

• Technical degree (B.S., M.S., or Ph.D.) in Computer Science, AI/ML, Electrical Engineering, or a related field strongly preferred.

• 6–10+ years of patent experience, with a strong track record in AI, enterprise software, cloud computing, and/or platform technologies.

• Demonstrated experience building and managing significant patent portfolios and supporting innovative, fast-moving product teams.

• Expertise in AI/ML patenting challenges (e.g., inventorship, data protection, prompt engineering, agentic behaviors, model fine-tuning).

• Business acumen to align patent strategies with product and commercial priorities.

• Skilled at helping develop scalable patent operations and managing external counsel effectively.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep understanding of agentic AI technologies, orchestration frameworks, prompt engineering, or AI governance models.

• Experience supporting AI-first platform launches or scaling platform patent portfolios.

• Familiarity with global standards and IP policy debates surrounding AI and data.

• Global patent experience across U.S., EMEA, and APAC regions.

Pluses:

• Patent Prosecution and/or Patent Litigation and/or Litigation Support

• Open Source Experience

• Patent and Technology Licensing

• Standards Organizations

• Competitive Intelligence

• Copyright (both Software and Content)

Why Join Us
At Salesforce, your work will protect the technologies that are reshaping the world.
You will help safeguard the future of Agentforce, Einstein 1, and our deeply unified AI, Data, CRM, and Trust platform — ensuring our ability to innovate boldly, serve our customers responsibly, and lead the future of trusted enterprise AI.
This is a front-row seat to defining how AI, agents, and humans will work together to drive progress. If you’re passionate about innovation, energized by complexity, and motivated to build for the future, we’d love to meet you.

Accommodations

If you require assistance due to a disability applying for open positions please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.

Posting Statement

Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.

For Washington-based roles, the base salary hiring range for this position is $211,500 to $306,600.

For Illinois based roles, the base salary hiring range for this position is $211,500 to $306,600.

For Massachusetts based roles, the base salary hiring range for this position is $211,500 to $306,600.Compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, benefits. More details about our company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.