AI Licensing Specialist

Application Closing Date: 10 November 2026 11:59pm Salary package: £34,800 - £37,000 per annum in addition to our comprehensive benefits package The Royal Society of Chemistry is seeking an AI Licensing Specialist to help us navigate one of the most exciting and rapidly evolving areas of scientific publishing and technology.

This is a unique opportunity to combine your expertise in copyright, intellectual property and content licensing with emerging AI technologies, helping to develop innovative licensing solutions that enable responsible access to trusted scientific content. Working closely with Commercial, Publishing, Legal and Technical teams, you will play a key role in translating new business opportunities into practical licensing agreements.

You'll manage a diverse range of licences, balancing commercial opportunity, legal compliance and reputational considerations in a fast-changing environment. The Royal Society of Chemistry is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to advance chemical sciences. As a leading scientific publisher, we reinvest surplus funds back into the global scientific community, supporting our purpose to help the chemical science community make the world a better place.

We strongly believe that Chemistry is at the heart of the changes society needs: better healthcare, environmental protection, clean energy, and secure food and water for everyone and together, we’re changing the world. Your work will contribute directly to our purpose: to help the scientific community create a healthier, more sustainable and more equitable future.

Although this role is contractually based at our Cambridge office, we offer flexible hybrid working. You will have the opportunity to work from anywhere in the UK, with occasional travel to our Cambridge office, typically around once a month, as well as some UK travel for conferences, meetings and other business activities.

If it sounds exciting to you as it is to us read further and apply for this role.

Responsibilities

Assess AI licensing opportunities and recommend commercially viable, risk-aware licensing approaches. Support commercial discussions and negotiations by providing specialist licensing expertise. Develop, maintain and continuously improve AI licensing terms, principles, frameworks, and internal guidance. Ensure AI licensing agreements accurately and clearly detail agreed rights, restrictions, reporting obligations, and compliance requirements as per individual negotiations.

Maintain accurate documentation and records of licensing agreements, permitted uses and contractual obligations. Develop licensing models that improve operational efficiency and consistency. Monitor developments in AI licensing, technology, regulation, and customer requirements, identifying potential opportunities and risks for the RSC.

Share knowledge and guidance across the organization that enhances understanding of AI licensing.

Requirements

Essential: Strong knowledge of content licensing, copyright and intellectual property principles, particularly in relation to published or digital content; Demonstrable interest in emerging AI technologies with the ability to interpret and apply licence terms to complex or novel use cases Ability to translate commercial opportunities into clear licensing requirements and licensing solutions.

Ability to communicate complex licensing and rights issues to non-specialists; Confidence working across commercial, legal, and technical stakeholders; Strong attention to detail alongside the ability to see the wider commercial context; Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills Desirable : Experience of content licensing for AI use cases.

Experience of academic, scientific, or scholarly publishing environments. Familiarity with generative AI, large language models (LLMs), machine learning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and related content applications. Ability to support complex commercial and B2B licensing negotiations. Experience working with international customers, technology organisations, and strategic partners.

Awareness of evolving legislation, regulation and case law relating to AI, copyright, and content rights. A degree or equivalent higher-level qualification in the chemical sciences or a related discipline When applying, please provide an up-to-date CV and a supporting statement (no more than 500 words) indicating how your skills, knowledge and competencies match the requirements outlined in the job description.

At the Royal Society of Chemistry, we promote a healthy work/life balance and flexible working options across the organisation. We offer a comprehensive benefits package to all employees including: 26 days paid holiday per annum 35-hour working week with flexible options, to be agreed with your line manager Access to a private medical (optional) Enhanced maternity and paternity leave Paid volunteering days Pension plan with up to 12% employer contributions (depending upon your contribution) Visit our Work For Us website to learn more about us, our benefits, equal opportunities statement and inclusive culture pledge.

At the RSC, we recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce and welcome applicants from a range of backgrounds to apply. We particularly encourage applications from disabled and ethnic minority candidates. As a part of the Disability Confident Scheme, we endeavour, where possible, to offer an interview to candidates meeting the essential criteria of the role, who has a substantial physical/mental impairment which impacts their ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.

We are committed to making our recruitment processes accessible to all and as part of this, we are flexible in the ways we give and receive information. If you would like to apply using a different format, please contact the Recruitment Team at [email protected] or on +44 (0) 1223 432229 and we will do our best to put any reasonable adjustments in place.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]