Fine Art, Auctions, Luxury Goods

Engineering Manager

New York, NYOnsiteFull TimeManager / Head$205,000–$225,000 /yrPosted 1 month agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

engineering management
distributed teams
remote-first
multiple time zones
software engineering
architectural decisions
infrastructure decisions
product management
team retention
engineering quality

Nice to have

Go
Scala
React
TypeScript
Next.js
GraphQL

Role summary

Sotheby's is seeking experienced Engineering Managers to lead globally distributed, remote-first engineering teams. This role requires a strong technical background, proven people management skills (including hiring, developing, and retaining engineers), and the ability to partner with product management to define roadmaps and deliver outcomes. The ideal candidate will have experience managing teams of five or more engineers for at least 3 years, with a focus on engineering quality, observability, and reliability. Familiarity with their core stack (Go, Scala, React/TypeScript, Next.js, GraphQL, gRPC) and cloud infrastructure (AWS, Kubernetes) is beneficial. The role involves owning team health, growth, and output, setting quality standards, managing delivery cadences, and contributing to broader engineering initiatives.

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 and 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 now open at the iconic Breuer building at 945 Madison Avenue in New York City.

THE ROLE

Established in 1744, Sotheby’s is the world’s premier destination for art and luxury. The engineering that powers it today reflects that same ambition, built on modern technologies and modern practices.

The Engineering Manager will play a critical role in leading the technical delivery of a new platform initiative, owning engineering execution from concept through launch. This individual will partner closely with product, design, and cross-functional stakeholders to translate business objectives into scalable technical solutions, define engineering priorities, and drive delivery across multiple workstreams. The role requires a hands-on leader who can navigate ambiguity, build and mentor high-performing teams, establish strong engineering processes, and ensure the successful delivery of a premium product on an ambitious timeline. The ideal candidate is a pragmatic, detail-oriented operator with a track record of managing complex software development efforts, balancing technical excellence with execution, and fostering collaboration in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

We’re looking for engineering managers who can build and lead the team that owns this system. People who care as much about the engineers they work with as the software those engineers produce, and who are curious enough to learn a domain that will surprise them.

Our engineering teams are globally distributed. We’re not async-only. There are regular calls, cross-team meetings, and plenty of direct collaboration alongside the written communication you’d expect from a distributed organisation. The balance works because the people here are good at both.

IDEAL EXPERIENCE & COMPETENCIES

You’ve done this before. 3+ years managing teams of five or more engineers. You’ve hired, developed and retained good people. You know what a healthy team looks like and you know how to get there when it isn’t.

You have real technical depth. You don’t need to write code every day, but you can engage credibly with architectural decisions, review trade-offs, and spot when something is going sideways before it becomes an incident. Your engineers trust your judgment because you’ve earned it.

You deliver through others. You’re measured by what your team ships, not what you build yourself. You care about outcomes, not activity.

You communicate clearly and adapt to your audience. Whether that’s giving context to your team, presenting a plan to leadership, writing up a post-mortem, or navigating a difficult conversation with a direct report. You’re comfortable in all of those.

You create clarity in ambiguity. Priorities shift, dependencies tangle, and plans change. You’re the kind of leader who absorbs that complexity and gives your team something they can actually act on.

Required:

Proven engineering management experience with distributed teams across multiple time zones

A strong technical background in software engineering, with enough depth to guide architectural and infrastructure decisions

Experience taking at least one 0-to-1 product to launch, ideally at an early-stage startup

Comfortable working against a fixed launch date across several parallel workstreams with a small, senior team and limited resources

Comfortable working on a confidential, pre-announcement initiative and keeping discretion outside the immediate team

Experience partnering with product management to define priorities and deliver meaningful outcomes

Track record of hiring well, onboarding effectively, and building teams that retain good people

A focus on engineering quality: observability, analytics and reporting, testing practices, and ensuring the team ships work they can stand behind

Lead the engineering build of a new platform from the ground up, with experience taking at least one 0-to-1 product from first architecture decisions through launch, ideally at an early-stage startup.

Useful:

Familiarity with our core stack: Go, Scala, React/TypeScript, Next.js, GraphQL, gRPC

Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS) and container orchestration (Kubernetes)

Background in real-time, event-driven, or high-value transaction systems

Experience establishing engineering standards, governance, or communities of practice

E-commerce, marketplace, or auction domain experience

RESPONSIBLITIES

Own the health, output and growth of an engineering team distributed across time zones, from hiring through to career development and performance

Partner with product management to shape your team’s roadmap, balancing feature delivery, technical investment and operational health

Set and maintain the quality bar for your team’s area of the platform, including engineering practices, observability, reliability and how work gets reviewed

Run the delivery cadence: planning, prioritisation, retrospectives, and the day-to-day work of keeping things moving and unblocked

Manage dependencies and communication across teams, reducing coordination overhead and making sure nothing falls between the cracks

Contribute to engineering-wide initiatives, whether that’s standards, tooling, process improvement, or how we grow engineers across the organisation

Handle incidents and operational issues alongside your team, own the follow-up, and make sure the right things get fixed

Give your engineers regular, honest feedback and create real opportunities for them to grow

Lead the engineering build of a new platform from the ground up, from the first architecture decisions through launch.

Develop and maintain a build, buy or hybrid view for each platform domain, and manage third-party vendors and integrations behind a controlled interface layer.

Turn ambiguity into a scoped technical plan, raising risks and trade-offs early with clear recommendations.

WHAT WE OFFER

Competitive salary with discretionary bonus

Private health insurance

Health cash plan and dental insurance

Workplace nursery benefit

Generous holiday allowance, Christmas shutdown, summer Fridays, and volunteer and wellbeing days

Great hardware

Cycle to work scheme and eye care vouchers

Regular social events, meetups, and use of our London space (the summer and Christmas parties are worth showing up for)

The proposed base salary for this position ranges from $205,000 - $225,000. In addition to base salary successful candidates are eligible to receive a discretionary bonus, as well as a competitive benefits package. Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including relevant skills, training, experience, education, and, where applicable, licensure or certifications obtained. Market and organizational factors are also considered.

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The Company is an equal opportunity employer and considers all applicants for employment without regard to race (including, without limitation, traits historically associated with race, such as natural hair, hair texture, and protective and treated or untreated hairstyles), color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership/union status, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, genetic predisposition, genetic information, reproductive health decision, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, alienage or citizenship status, domestic violence victim status, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state/province or local law. The Company complies with applicable state and local laws prohibiting discrimination in employment in every jurisdiction in which it operates.

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