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About Sotheby's
Established in 1744, Sotheby’s promotes access and ownership of exceptional art and luxury objects through auctions, private sales and retail. Our deep expertise across 70 selling categories is supported by a leading technology platform and a global network of specialists spanning 40 countries. Selling categories include Contemporary Art, Modern and Impressionist Art, Old Masters, Chinese Works of Art, Jewelry, Watches, Wine and Spirits, Design, as well as collectible cars and real estate through RM Sotheby’s and Concierge. Sotheby’s Financial Services is a leading art lender and provides capital solutions for collectors around the world, having originated more than $12 billion in loans since its inception. Sotheby’s new global headquarters is open at the iconic Breuer building at 945 Madison Avenue in New York City.
THE ROLE
The SVP of Engineering is a senior leadership role responsible for the health, direction, and output of Sotheby’s engineering organisation.
Reporting into the Head of Product & Technology, you'll own the technical strategy underpinning our platforms — from client-facing digital experiences to the core transactional and operational systems that run the business.
You will lead a team of engineers, engineering managers, and technical leads, setting a high bar for talent, culture, and delivery. The best candidate moves fluidly between setting direction and ensuring it lands — as comfortable debating architectural trade-offs with a principal engineer as presenting a multi-year investment case to executive leadership.
You thrive where the problems are genuinely hard and can dig deep: legacy complexity, rapid growth, and a client base with exceptionally high expectations.
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Responsibilities
- Own the engineering organisation’s technology vision, strategy and multi-year roadmap — translating business priorities into a coherent technical direction that enables scalable, client-centric products and platforms
- Build and lead a high-performing engineering organisation: hire, develop, and retain senior talent; establish clear career paths; and foster a culture of accountability, craft, and continuous improvement
- Drive delivery of complex, cross-functional programmes spanning:
- Client-facing platforms
- Internal operational systems
- Core transactional infrastructure
- (With a bias toward shipping and measurable outcomes)
- Serve as the senior technical decision-maker for architecture, platform, and build-vs-buy choices, balancing long-term scalability with pragmatic near-term execution
- Partner with Product, Data, Design, Infosec and IT leadership to ensure engineering operates as a unified force — not a downstream order-taker — in shaping product and technology decisions
- Establish and uphold engineering standards across:
- Code quality
- Automated testing
- Security
- Operatable reliability (including 24x7 availability of production systems)
- Champion Agile practices and modern delivery disciplines (CI/CD, iterative planning, trunk-based development) to maximize team throughput and reduce cycle time
- Represent engineering credibly with:
- Executive leadership
- The board
- External partners
- (Communicating trade-offs clearly and advocating for sustainable investment in the technical foundation)
Ideal Experience & Competencies
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Key Experience
- 15+ years of experience in software development and architecture
- Experience with one or more general-purpose programming languages including (but not limited to):
- JavaScript
- Python
- Go
- Java
- Experience with frontend technologies and/or frontend frameworks (React preferred)
- Great communicator capable of translating complex technical topics for business stakeholders
Technical Skills
- Experience building:
- Extremely high-volume, highly scalable web services
- Highly available systems (operating 24x7 services)
- Agile Development experience:
- Leading Scrums
- Iteration planning
- Managing multiple work streams
- Continuous deployment and CI/CD pipeline development
- Familiarity and prior experience with:
- Amazon Web Services
- Google Cloud Platform
- Azure technologies
- Knowledge of API design and enterprise integration patterns
- Experience with:
- HTML5 and CSS3 web standards
- Relational and non-relational databases
- (Experience with large-scale data warehouses for analytics preferred)
Soft Skills & Mindset
- Ability to accelerate decision-making and consistently influence teams to successful outcomes
- Creative and critical thinker; thrives in fast-paced, dynamic, often ambiguous environments
- Strong problem resolution and analytical skills; strategic detail-oriented approach
- Charisma and natural ability to connect with others; leadership and mentorship skills
- Agile and organised working style to manage and prioritise key initiatives
Commitment to Core Values
- Intelligence
- Leadership
- Humility
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