What we do
At Terabase Energy, we believe that digitalization and automation will drive the next wave of innovation and cost reduction in large scale solar. To fully unlock the potential of this opportunity, Terabase is developing an interconnected software and construction automation platform. We work alongside project developers, owners, and engineering & construction firms to support the design, optimization, and construction of huge solar projects around the world. Our team is a blend of solar-industry veterans and newbies, thought-leaders, dreamers, software, electrical and mechanical engineers, coders, product managers, project managers, and sales and marketing professionals. We are based in Northern California, with several other offices in the United States and around the world. If all of this piques your interest, we’d love to hear from you!
The Role
Terabase is seeking a Senior Intellectual Property Counsel to build and lead our IP program. This is Terabase’s first dedicated IP role. Reporting to the VP of Legal, you will own IP strategy and day-to-day IP legal support across our product lines, including PlantPredict, Construct, SCADA, and Terafab, which together span AI-enabled SaaS, controls hardware, and physical AI and robotics-enabled construction. You will be shaping IP strategy at the frontier of physical AI, where machine learning, robotics, and automation meet the real world at utility scale.
The work is broad. You will partner with engineering to capture and protect inventions across AI, robotics, and automation, manage our patent portfolio and outside IP counsel, and help product teams understand third-party patent risk early enough to act on it. You will own our NDA program, from playbook to self-service tools, and partner with IT on the policies that protect company information. You will also stand up practical IP and AI policies, run IP training across the company, support IP terms in commercial deals and special projects, and own IP disputes and litigation, from cease-and-desist letters through selecting counsel and responding to claims.
We are looking for a builder. The ideal candidate has supported start-ups or scale-ups and does their best work in uncertain, constantly changing environments, where priorities shift, information is incomplete, and the playbook often does not exist yet. You have built IP programs and processes from the ground up, not just operated them, and you can bring structure without slowing the business down.
You are a practical, technically fluent IP lawyer who is equally comfortable reviewing claims with engineers and briefing executives, and you know when a two-page risk memo serves the business better than a forty-page opinion. You are comfortable as a team of one, working closely with a lean legal team and a strong bench of outside counsel.
This role is hybrid, based in the Capitol Corridor (CA), with regular travel to Terabase offices in Davis and Woodland, CA (approximately 25%).
Responsibilities
IP Strategy, Patent Portfolio, and Outside Counsel
Develop and execute a patent strategy aligned with the product roadmap and business priorities, focusing filings where they create real competitive value, including in AI, machine learning, and physical AI systems.
Lead invention harvesting by working directly with engineers to identify, evaluate, and prioritize inventions, and run a lightweight invention review process.
Direct outside prosecution counsel on drafting, filing, prosecution, and foreign filing decisions, and review applications and office action responses for quality, claim scope, and alignment with our products.
Manage and build on our existing outside IP counsel relationships, and develop a forward-looking outside counsel plan that matches the right firms and specialists to our needs as our portfolio, product lines, and geographic footprint grow.
Manage the patent portfolio, docket, and IP budget, including maintenance and pruning decisions.
Help the business…