Group head of intellectual property and data protection

·  Manage the global patent portfolio throughout its lifecycle, including inventor formalities, annuities, deadlines and records.

·  Assess, define and lead the appropriate legal and IP response to innovation and third-party rights issues, including continued monitoring, freedom-to-operate analyses, oppositions, enforcement actions, prosecution strategy, protective letters, licensing and other protection measures, using external patent counsel where appropriate.

·  Assess innovations presented through the agreed R&D review process and decide, jointly with R&D, what, where and how to protect, including drafting proposals of technical claims and deciding on protection strategy, filing territories, patent drafting, prosecution and portfolio development

·  Jointly with R&D, define and implement Drylock’s global product protection and patent strategy.

·  Establish and continuously improve the governance and decision framework for identifying, assessing and protecting innovations.

·  Build portfolio insight linking technologies, patents, products, countries and business priorities.

·  Lead IP workstreams in major patent disputes, strategic licenses, collaborations, M&A and technology commercialization.

·  Support Finance and Tax on innovation deduction, transfer pricing, IP valuation and portfolio optimization.

·  Manage global trademark and design portfolios with external counsel, including filings, renewals, watches, evidence of use and records.

·  Coordinate legal clearance for names, logos, claims, packaging, product appearance, prints and domain names.

·  Connect registered rights with actual commercial use, ownership, countries, channels, launches and phase-outs.

·  Advise on ownership, licensing, permitted use and contractual allocation of Drylock-owned and customer-owned brand assets.

·  Coordinate evidence capture, escalation and proportionate enforcement.

·  Develop and implement a global brand and design protection strategy.

·  Define what Drylock protects, how, where and for how long, and rationalize the portfolio accordingly.

·  Establish practical intake, approval and decision processes for new brands, designs and packaging concepts.

·  Strengthen coordination between Legal, IP & Risk, Category Management, Sales and the wider business.

·  Advise on GDPR and privacy matters involving employee, customer and business data.

·  Support data sharing, transparency, retention, processor arrangements and international data transfers.

·  Maintain practical privacy policies, templates, records, assessments and awareness materials.

·  Coordinate legal support for data incidents and personal data breach response.

·  Support cybersecurity-related legal matters and regulatory obligations.

·  Monitor relevant legal developments and translate them into proportionate actions.

·  Strengthen group-wide privacy governance and embed privacy requirements in key business initiatives.

·  Support NIS2 implementation and ongoing compliance, including responsibilities, risk-management measures, incident reporting, supply-chain considerations, documentation and awareness.

·  Develop clear privacy and NIS2 implementation roadmaps and management reporting.

·  Partner with IT, Information Security and Risk on cybersecurity governance and incident readiness.