Engineering Manager

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.

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.

Auctions are the most visible part of what we do, but every sale that runs through Sotheby’s is backed by the entire engineering organisation. The work starts months before a lot crosses the block, from the systems that support how we acquire and value inventory, through to the platforms our clients and specialists interact with daily, the identity and compliance infrastructure that keeps it all trustworthy, and the services that make the live event itself possible.

That breadth is what makes the engineering here different. Whether you’re working on internal tooling, client-facing products, platform infrastructure, or the real-time systems behind a sale moving hundreds of millions of dollars, your work connects to something tangible.

We’re looking for engineering managers who can build and lead the teams that own these systems. 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 remote-first and globally distributed. It’s how we’re built, and it’s how we intend to stay.

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.

This role is London or remote within the UK.

• 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