IP Team Support Apprentice

Gain practical experience as an IP Team Support Apprentice. Develop your administration, communication, IT and organisation skills while supporting a professional team and working towards a Business Administrator apprenticeship. Build valuable workplace skills and gain experience in a professional office environment.

What you'll do

Correspondence and Document Handling

• Save incoming correspondence from various team accounts onto Equinox with

descriptive titles, merging documents as required.

• Acknowledge emails and prepare simple standard correspondence on cases (filing,

publication, registration/grant).

• Collect expenses receipts and send to accounts

• Provide holiday cover and back-up for teams in relation to Equinox uploads.

• Check case summaries from Renewals against Equinox and obtain cited documents using Espacenet.

• Book OP VC's and monitor admin tasks on Equinox.

• Prepare reminders and send acknowledgements to EPO as needed.

• Send closed files to the Halifax office, checking Equinox, and making sure all charges have been billed and that the file status is correct.

• Create opposition files, downloading documents from the EPO register, putting correspondence in order and creating tabs.

• Deal with incoming post and original documents using the original documents process guide.

Office Administration

• Meet and greet visitors, arrange refreshments/catering, ensure meeting rooms are tidy, and manage virtual meetings.

• Handle stationery ordering, mail scanning and saving, franking, and sending recorded deliveries.

• Handle office weekly shop for fruit, coffee, milk, tea etc.

Role: IP Team Support Apprentice

Location Manchester

Reports to: Senior IP Paralegal

Hours of work: 34 hours per week – full time

• Order lunches for internal meetings, checking with the fee earners how many people are attending and placing orders online.

• Assist with business travel arrangements when necessary.

• Ensure the office is kept tidy and organised, assisting with archiving tasks when appropriate.

• Answer incoming calls and take messages where necessary.

• Print, photocopy, scan and upload documents as required.

Training

Business Administrator Level 3.

The apprentice will work at the Leeds office Monday - Friday. In addition to this the apprentice will attend training sessions at Leeds City College Printworks campus, as well as remote learning through Teams.

After the apprenticeship

Permanent position on completion of apprenticeship, subject to performance and role availability.

Skills

• Communication skills
• IT skills
• Attention to detail
• Administrative skills
• Initiative
• Accuracy
• Professionalism
• Punctuality
• Positive attitude
• Reliability
• Adaptability
• Time management
• Multitasking

Qualifications

• Essential: GCSE, English (grade 4)
• Essential: GCSE, Maths (grade 4)

About the employer

We help our clients protect and monetise their intellectual property, and manage post-grant challenges, should they arise.

We offer broad sector and industry knowledge, plus the ability to adapt our services to specific client requirements, in an agile way.

With offices in UK innovation hotspots, we are positioned to give clients expert strategic IP advice in the UK and worldwide.

We support some of the world's most innovative businesses and leading academic institutions, helping them to maximise the value of their intellectual property throughout its entire life cycle.

Appleyard Lees has a network of UK offices in Cambridge, Leeds, Halifax, Manchester and the BioHub at Alderley, providing clients with expert strategic IP advice globally.

Apprenticeship details

• Course: Business administrator (level 3), Business and administration
• Apprenticeship level: Advanced (level 3)
• Training provider: LUMINATE EDUCATION GROUP
• Expected duration: 1 Year 6 Months
• Hours: 34 hours a week. Working week: Mon-Fri. Mon-Thurs 9am-17.00 with 1 hour lunch, Friday 9am-16.30 with 1 hour 30 minute lunch.
• Start date: 11 November 2026
• Positions available: 1
• Wage: £14,144 to £22,471.28 a year