The US Patent and Trademark Office is calling on veterans to fill more than 1,000 jobs

Working at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is more than another government job. Veterans spent years dedicated protecting the American homeland. Working at the USPTO is directly protecting individual Americans by helping them defend their innovations. Since all we ever really have is what our minds can conceive, working for the agency that protects our ideas might be the most important job in government.

All that and you get paid, too.

The Patent and Trademark Office is the office that helps inventors—including plenty of fellow veterans and small businesses—secure the patents and trademarks that turn ideas into economic power. It’s the kind of work that directly supports national security, technological superiority, and veteran entrepreneurship.

It’s such an important role that the Founding Fathers enshrined the system that would manage patents and trademarks in the Constitution. You can’t say that about the Attorney General’s office.

There’s no one better suited to safeguard such an important role than U.S. military veterans. The USPTO sure seems to agree. It’s one of few federal agencies who look to the civilian sector for the best practices in recruiting and retaining veteran talent. Sure, a veteran can get a job at any federal organization with five- or ten-point preference. And everyone follows the GS scale. But there’s more opportunity—and pay— at the patent office.

Because of the critical skills required, patent examiners get a special pay scale to make the job more competitive with the civilian sector, and that includes examiners who work remotely from outside the nation’s capital. How much does that help? The special rate elevates early-and mid-career salaries, but senior examiners usually hit the strict statutory civil service pay cap.

That means strong performers can reach six figures relatively quickly. Top off that cash bonus with a business casual environment, transit subsidies, and comprehensive benefits of federal service.

And USAJOBS isn’t the only route to getting a job at USPTO. The agency has special hiring authorities for veterans and military spouses, which are direct hiring authorities outside of the typical USAJOBS process. Once hired, there’s an internal Military Association that hosts events for vets, provides peer support, and keeps that service-oriented culture alive. It’s a work center that retains the familiarity vets once shared in the military.

For those still serving, the Patent and Trademark Office has a direct path to post-military employment through the DoD Skillbridge program and the Department of the Interior’s Operation Warfighter program.

And if your spouse has the skills the USPTO needs, they’re interested in hiring them as well. For anyone in the military-veteran community interested in a federal job with a real future, check out the Patent and Trademark Office’s veteran hiring page.

You’ll find not only more information but also phone numbers, emails, and other ways to ask questions.

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