THE ROLEThe SVP of Engineering is a senior leadership role responsible for the health, direction, and output of Sotheby's engineering organization. Reporting into the Head of Product & Technology, you will 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 tradeoffs 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.
RESPONSIBILITIES- Own the engineering organization'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 organization: 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 programs spanning client-facing platforms, internal operational systems, and 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, and operational 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, and external partners -- communicating tradeoffs clearly and advocating for sustainable investment in the technical foundation
IDEAL EXPERIENCE & COMPETENCIES- 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, or Java
- Experience with front end technologies and/or front-end frameworks (React preferred)
- Great communicator capable of translating complex technical topics for business stakeholders
- Experience building extremely high volume and highly scalable web services
- Experience building highly available systems and operating 24x7 services
- Extensive Agile Development experience (leading Scrums, iteration planning, managing multiple work streams)
- Experience with continuous deployment and developing CI/CD pipelines
- Familiarity and prior experience with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, or Azure technologies
- General experience with API design and enterprise integration patterns
- Experience with HTML5 and CSS3 web standards
- Experience with relational and non-relational databases
- Experience working with large scale data warehouses for analytics preferred
- Excellent communicator capable of translating complex technical topics for business stakeholders & experience consistently influencing teams to successful outcomes
- Ability to think creatively and critically and thrive in a fast-paced dynamic, and often ambiguous work environment
- Strong problem resolution and analytical skills; detail-oriented strategic thinker; solution-oriented mindset and work approach
- Charisma and a natural ability to connect with others; strong leadership and mentorship skills
- Agile and organized working style to manage and consistently prioritize key initiatives
- Intelligence, Leadership, & Humility
To view our
Candidate Privacy Notice for the US, please
click hereTo view our
Candidate Privacy Notice for the UK, Hong Kong, France and Switzerland, please
click here 
