Hardware Royalty & Licensing Manager, Indirect Procurement

About the role

The Hardware Royalty & Licensing Manager will oversee Roku’s end-to-end management of hardware royalty costs for Roku-branded televisions and other devices. They will read, interpret, and negotiate license agreements—particularly with patent assertion entities—and translate those terms into transparent, operational processes with our Royalty Accounting and Product Management teams to ensure compliance, accurate reporting, and cost optimization.

What you'll be doing

• License strategy and negotiations: Lead and support negotiations with patent assertion entities, licensing administrators, and patent pools; develop deal structures, redlines, and negotiation strategies in partnership with Legal and relevant stakeholders.
• Contract interpretation to operations: Translate executed agreements into digestible instructions, product/SKU mappings, and compliance checklists; ensure terms are integrated into procurement processes and reporting processes.
• Royalty operations and compliance: Establish reporting cadences, calendars, and controls with Royalty Accounting; manage audits, information requests, and timely/accurate filings and payments.
• Cost management and analytics: Model royalty exposure across current and roadmap products; build scenarios and sensitivities; partner with FP&A to forecast accruals and with Product to influence design and roadmap decisions that optimize total cost.
• Cross-functional leadership: Partner closely with Legal/IP, Product Management, Engineering, Finance/FP&A, Supply Chain/OEM partners, and Royalty Accounting to align on requirements, timelines, and risk mitigations.
• Market and risk intelligence: Monitor relevant patent landscapes, assertion activity, renewals, and termination windows; maintain a calendar and risk register; recommend proactive strategies to avoid or mitigate exposure.
• Vendor and partner management: Coordinate external counsel and licensing advisors where needed; manage engagement scope, performance, and spend.
• Process and tooling: Maintain a system of record for agreements, obligations, and reports, and drive continuous improvement of templates, playbooks, dashboards, and training materials.

We're excited if you have

• 5–6+ years of experience in procurement, IP licensing, royalty management, or a closely related function in consumer electronics, media/streaming, or adjacent tech industries.
  Proven experience interpreting and negotiating license agreements, including with patent assertion entities and/or patent pools; strong redlining skills and familiarity with key terms (e.g., field-of-use, territory, MFN, caps, rate structures, audit rights, grant-back).
• Ability to connect legal terms to operational compliance and accurate royalty reporting across product lines/SKUs.
• Strong financial and analytical skills (Excel modeling, scenario analysis, forecasting) with the ability to quantify options and communicate tradeoffs succinctly.
• Effective cross-functional communicator who can influence and align Legal/IP, Engineering, Product, Finance, and external counterparties.
• Working understanding of technologies relevant to connected TVs and streaming devices (e.g., wireless standards, video/audio codecs, HDMI/HDCP, DRM) and how they drive licensing obligations.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience. An advanced degree (JD, MBA) or technical degree is a plus but not required.
• Experience in a hardware-centric environment with royalty accounting processes and systems; familiarity with CLM and royalty tooling (e.g., contract repositories, reporting systems).
• Background interfacing with Finance/FP&A on accruals, variance analysis, and close processes.
• Exposure to litigation strategy or dispute resolution related to IP/licensing (in partnership with Legal).
• Success Measures:
  • Year-over-year royalty cost savings/avoidance and improved commercial terms.
  • Zero missed reporting deadlines and clean audit outcomes.
  • Forecast accuracy for royalty accruals and timely visibility to variances.
  • Positive stakeholder feedback from Legal, Product, Engineering, and Finance.
• Roku values you’ll embody
  • Pragmatic problem-solving, crisp communication, and strong ownership.
  • Curiosity for the technology behind our products and the business models that monetize them.
  • Respectful, direct negotiation style that represents Roku’s interests professionally.

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