Patent examining offers an exciting and unusual opportunity to combine scientific and technical expertise with legal skills. Successful candidates will receive comprehensive training and mentoring support to develop the legal skills required for the role. Patent Examiners combine these skills together with their technical knowledge and analytical ability to establish if an invention is new and inventive and whether, or not, the application satisfies various other legal requirements. Successful applicants will be appointed as ‘Associate Patent Examiners’. After 2-5 years understanding the basics of the examining job and developing a broad set of professional skills you can then apply for promotion to ‘Patent Examiner’. At this grade you work independently while continuing to develop your skills and experience. After a few more years of development there is non-competitive promotion to ‘Senior Patent Examiner’. Senior Patent Examiners are subject matter experts, leaders within the Patent Examining Division and provide mentoring support to the next generation of examiners.