Senior Software Engineer

Sotheby's; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary with discretionary bonus

Private health insurance

Health cash plan and dental insurance

Generous holiday allowance

Great hardware

Cycle to work scheme

Regular social events

Job summary

Sotheby's is looking for experienced senior engineers to take ownership of systems in a remote-first setup within the UK. Candidates should have at least 5 years of experience, with strengths in distributed systems, preferably using Go, React/TypeScript, or Scala. Additional skills in PostgreSQL, AWS, and communication are essential. The role offers a competitive salary, private health insurance, generous holiday allowance, and other benefits, making it an excellent opportunity for engineers aiming to innovate in the art and luxury sector.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in shipping production systems with real ownership.
• Strong experience designing, deploying, and operating distributed systems.
• Solid relational database knowledge, particularly PostgreSQL.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the systems they build.
• Solve complex problems for the business while communicating clearly.
• Adaptable to varied day-to-day tasks, comfortable using modern tools.

Skills

Distributed systems

Go

React/TypeScript

Scala

PostgreSQL

AWS

Job description

The Role

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 senior engineers who want real ownership of the systems they build, who care about quality and craft, 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.

Ideal Experience & Competencies

• You've shipped production systems. 5+ years of experience, with real ownership of services or products that other people depend on. You've dealt with incidents, made trade-offs under pressure, and learned from what went wrong.
• You solve problems for the business, not just yourself. You’re pragmatic. You look for the best course of action given the constraints, not the most technically interesting one. You can weigh options, make a call, and move forward together with the people around you.
• You communicate clearly. Whether that's justifying a technical decision on a call, writing up a proposal, or talking through an approach in a review. You can discuss specifics without getting lost in the detail, and you're comfortable working across teams to get things done.
• You’re comfortable wearing many hats. The day-to-day here can vary a lot. You’re the kind of engineer who sees that as a feature, not a bug.
• You take craft seriously and use modern tools to amplify it. You write code that others can maintain and build on. You’re happy using AI and modern tooling to move faster, but you understand the systems deeply enough to know when the tool is wrong.
• Technical Experience: We don't expect you to know the full stack coming in. We do expect strength in at least one of Go, React/TypeScript, or Scala, comfort with distributed systems thinking, and readiness to pick up whatever the work requires.
• Required:
  • Strong experience with (at least one; more is a plus)
  • Experience designing, deploying, and operating distributed systems and microservices
  • Solid relational database knowledge (PostgreSQL preferred)
  • Familiarity with cloud infrastructure (we use AWS) and containerisation
  • Located in the United Kingdom (London in-person, or remote UK)
• Useful:
  • Event-driven architectures and streaming platforms
  • API design across GraphQL, gRPC, or REST
  • Authentication, authorisation, or compliance‑related systems
  • E-commerce, marketplace, or auction domain experience

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 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.