Team Leader – Patents

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) works with users of the intellectual property regulatory system in the examination and granting or registration of intellectual property rights: patents; designs; trade marks; geographical indications; and plant variety rights.  We are also responsible for intellectual property education and awareness programmes, largely delivered in partnership with MBIE’s Information & Education (I&E) teams.  

IPONZ is a key part of the IP regulatory system which, when running effectively, supports intellectual property owners, innovators and creators by incentivising innovation and investment and facilitating trade in new products and services, as well as encouraging creative expression to bring tangible societal and economic returns to New Zealand.

The Team Leader Patents holds a pivotal role, responsible for guiding the day-to-day operations of a dedicated team of examiners. Their focus lies in leadership and providing direction to their team and support to their manager.
The Team Leader Patents establishes clear expectations of their team, coaching and developing their people to succeed within a high-performance environment. They provide a sense of vision and leadership that engages and motivates their team to participate and drive initiatives forward to meet the needs of IPONZ now and in the future.

As a member of the extended IPONZ leadership team, reporting to either the Manager Patents (Engineering) & Designs or Manager Patents (Science) & PVR, this role plays a crucial role in embedding strategic initiatives and ensuring their team’s alignment with IPONZ’s vision, goals, and operational strategies. In this role, you will be expected to contribute to and understand the strategic context, current agenda, and priorities, translating them into work programmes/tasks at both team and individual levels.

The Team Leader Patents is responsible for: 

• Day-to-day leadership, performance management and personal development of team members 
• Building the team's overall capability, including its resourcing and staff development
• Setting team goals and devising strategies to ensure the team meets its output and quality objectives.
• Establishing clear accountabilities and expectations for their team – and coaching and developing staff to enable them to achieve performance targets.
• Oversight of difficult and contentious cases to minimise business risk and ensure the best outcomes for applicants and the public interest.
• Contribution to IPONZ’s strategic direction, projects, and constant business improvement initiatives
• Support IPONZ wider strategic direction set by the IPONZ management team.
• Proactively ensuring their manager is appropriately briefed on all relevant matters.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

A proven track record and a high level of proficiency, experience and achievement in:

• Leading, motivating, and coaching others to achieve their goals and deliver high-quality results
• Good judgment, prioritisation and time management skills, with ability to make sound decisions in complex situations
• Building and sustaining strong relationships, with ability to influence and guide others
• Ability to quickly assess and interpret relevance of complex information
• Strong problem-solving abilities and a proactive approach to addressing challenges
• Self-motivated and takes ownership of their own work and personal growth and development
• A legal right to live and work in New Zealand.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

IPONZ Strategic Direction

• Understanding the strategic context, current agenda and priorities
• Seeing intellectual property issues in the wider context
• Contributing to strategic conversations and planning
• Translating overall strategic direction into work programmes/tasks at team and individual level ensuring team contributes to the overall strategy
• Applying foresight and judgement to identify what is important for IPONZ in the medium and long term
• Articulating and communicating the purpose of the team and the work we do.

Analytical Thinking

• Providing intellectual leadership 
• Applying advanced frameworks and methods of analysis to identify problems, analyse the issues, and identify and assess options
• Drawing upon multiple relationships to exchange ideas, resources, and know how
• Using experience and expertise to monitor and evaluate team performance 
• Working with multiple complex ideas in parallel 
• Integrating multiple concepts and pathways
• Dealing comfortably with ambiguity.

Decision Making

• Grasping and synthesising the ideas, analysis and advice produced by others 
• Drawing on experience in area of expertise
• Applying sound judgement to draw conclusions 
• Integrating up-to-date information and evidence across relevant areas, including recent decisions and precedence  
• Developing new insights and innovative solutions despite the imperfections and uncertainty of evidence 
• Building requisite knowledge for different issues quickly 
• Critically assessing information from a wide variety of sources and identifying implications for intellectual property applications/processes.

Leadership

• Role Modelling MBIE values
• Championing Government, MBIE, TWSD, B&C and IPONZ leadership decisions, taking ownership and actively supporting communication and roll outs for successful implementation
• Ensuring the team understands and takes into consideration IPONZ’s position in the regulatory context, and the role IPONZ plays for New Zealand businesses
• Providing a sense of vision and leadership that engages and motivates others to participate and make things happen 
• Providing leadership and management for the team including recruitment, performance, development, safety and well-being 
• Creating a climate where people are motivated to do their best to help the organisation achieve its objectives.

Building Capability 

• Actively supporting a culture of excellence in the team 
• Coaching, mentoring and developing our people to meet the needs of MBIE now and in the future 
• Taking responsibility for own professional development of core, transferable skills.
• Anticipating future capability needs, identifying gaps in capability and addressing these gaps through targeted recruitment and development or other actions.

Relationship Building

• Collaborating with peers to maintain consistency across IPONZ
• Building and maintaining enduring relationships with colleagues and senior stakeholders 
• Establishing effective connections with stakeholders within short periods of time 
• Maintaining and deepening relationships over time even in the face of differences 
• Effectively influencing, and contributing to an authorising environment 
• Representing whole-of-Ministry views and protecting its reputation in external interactions 
• Testing the effectiveness of stakeholder relationships using a range of appropriate measures and processes (including stakeholder feedback).

Workload Management

• Actively lead team members and ensure performance standards and deliverables are understood.
• Prioritise work of team, evaluate progress and implement solutions to ensure workflow is managed and business objectives are met.
• Work with the manager to establish appropriate short to medium term goals and priorities for the team as a whole, and then effectively allocates and resources to ensure assigned tasks can be completed.
• Prioritise own work queue to ensure timely completion of allocated work. 
• Maintain effective communication with the manager to ensure workloads are balanced and achievable.

Organisational Commitment and Public Service

• Role models the standard of the Integrity and Conduct for the State Services Commission.
• Contributes to the development of, and helps promote and builds commitment to, MBIE’s vision, mission, values and services.
• Willingly undertakes any duty required within the context of the position.
• Understand Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) principles and the application of these to MBIE.
• Complies with all legislative requirements conflict of interest and good employer obligations. 

Wellbeing, health & safety

• Displays commitment through actively supporting all safety and wellbeing initiatives
• Ensures own and others safety at all times
• Complies with relevant safety and wellbeing policies, procedures, safe systems of work and event reporting
• Reports all incidents/accidents, including near misses in a timely fashion
• Is involved in health and safety through participation and consultation.

Tō tūranga i roto i te Manatū – Your place in the Ministry

The Team Leader Patents position reports into either the Manager Patents (Engineering) & Designs or Manager Patents (Science) & PVR in IPONZ within the Business & Consumer branch. The branch sits within the Te Whakatairanga Service Delivery group.

More information about MBIE's structure

Matatautanga – Competencies (Leadership Success Profile)

The Leadership Success Profile (LSP) is a leadership capability framework, developed by the New Zealand public sector for the New Zealand public sector. It creates a common language for leadership and establishes what great leadership looks like. You can look at the twelve underpinning capabilities and four leadership characters here: Leadership Success Profile | Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission(external link)

To mātou aronga – What we do for Aotearoa New Zealand

Hīkina Whakatutuki is the te reo Māori name for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Hīkina means to uplift. Whakatutuki means to move forward, to make successful. Our name speaks to our purpose, Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All.

To Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All, we put people at the heart of our mahi. Based on the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi, we are committed to upholding authentic partnerships with Māori.

As agile public service leaders, we use our breadth and experience to navigate the ever-changing world. We are service providers, policy makers, investors and regulators. We engage with diverse communities, businesses and regions. Our work touches on the daily lives of New Zealanders. We grow opportunities (Puāwai), guard and protect (Kaihāpai) and innovate and navigate towards a better future (Auaha).

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

As an agency of the public service, MBIE has a responsibility to contribute to the Crown meeting its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti). Meeting our commitment to Te Tiriti will contribute towards us realising the overall aims of Te Ara Amiorangi – Our Path, Our Direction, and achieve the outcome of Growing New Zealand for All. The principles of Te Tiriti - including partnership, good faith, and active protection – are at the core of our work. MBIE is committed to delivering on our obligations as a Treaty partner with authenticity and integrity and to enable Māori interests. We are committed to ensuring that MBIE is well placed to meet our obligations under the Public Service Act 2020 (Te Ao Tūmatanui) to support the Crown in strengthening the Māori/Crown Relationship under the Treaty and to build MBIE’s capability, capacity and cultural intelligence to deliver this.

Mahi i roto i te Ratonga Tūmatanui – Working in the public service

Ka mahitahi mātou o te ratonga tūmatanui kia hei painga mō ngā tāngata o Aotearoa i āianei, ā, hei ngā rā ki tua hoki. He kawenga tino whaitake tā mātou hei tautoko i te Karauna i runga i āna hononga ki a ngāi Māori i raro i te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ka tautoko mātou i te kāwanatanga manapori. Ka whakakotahingia mātou e te wairua whakarato ki ō mātou hapori, ā, e arahina ana mātou e ngā mātāpono me ngā tikanga matua o te ratonga tūmatanui i roto i ā mātou mahi.

In the public service we work collectively to make a meaningful difference for New Zealanders now and in the future. We have an important role in supporting the Crown in its relationships with Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi. We support democratic government. We are unified by a spirit of service to our communities and guided by the core principles and values of the public service in our work.

What does it mean to work in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Public Service?(external link) — Te Kawa Mataaho The Public Service Commission