Business Director, Impressionist & Modern and Post-War & Contemporary

Business Director, Impressionist & Modern and Post-War & Contemporary The Company

Christie’s, the world’s largest Art Business, is an incredibly exciting & enriching place to start or continue your career. Whether you work within one of our Specialist Art Departments, or in one of our more Operational teams, we are all working together with one common goal in mind: to continue the success of this 250 year old company, steeped in history, bringing fresh ideas whilst not forgetting our shared values;
Integrity, Excellence, Innovation, Responsibility & Relationships. Colleagues across all departments are truly passionate about what they do and it is inspiring to work with industry leaders across our business.

The Business Director will partner with the Head of Departments & Regional Managing Director to realize the New York department objectives, and manage business pipeline and profitability.

The Business Director drives the execution of the financial, strategic and administrative integrity of the Impressionist & Modern and the Post-War & Contemporary Art auctions and teams in the Americas.

• In partnership with heads of sales drive business pipeline, including deal and margin management and strategic sale opportunities.
• Oversee the business management teams and act as the point of escalation for any unresolved issues for all NY department auctions, ensuring appropriate sale coverage.
• Provide oversight and management for single owner and collection sales, working with lead specialists to build appropriate sale teams and partner with key internal and external stakeholders to ensure successful sale planning and execution
• Provide competitive analysis and insight on relevant market segments, both regionally and with global partners
• Implement improvements to operational systems for the department, working closely with regional management and business management teams.
• Articulate needs to support teams and partner with them on implementation of changes.
• Communicate areas of risk and identify areas for improvement.
• Manage and assist with disputes and settlements, working closely with RMD, Legal, ICO, client accounts as needed
• Partner with Private Sales teams on opportunities that span sale channels
• Support of special projects and initiatives, including corporate initiatives, cross category sales and client engagement opportunities, and internal reporting and operational reviews

• Review and approval financial deals for New York Impressionist & Modern and Post-War & Contemporary auctions, partnering with the commercial finance teams.
• Provide business management oversight of complex contractual negotiations as escalated from the business managers and legal.
• Oversee the preparation of deal materials for biweekly executive financial discussions.
• Actively manage the New York third party backer strategy, including evaluating and strategizing how to successfully manage house risk and third party conversions in partnership with department management and commercial finance team.
• Management of department stock portfolios below $1m.
• Provide insight and information to Finance Partner to enable weekly pipeline updates, annual budgeting, forecasting, sale P&L and other reporting.

• Direct management responsibilities for the business management teams, and in partnership with the Head of Departments, assist in the management of the relevant New York auctions team. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.
• Lead, manage and communicate any cultural or management changes necessary to implement the strategic and business plan for the Departments, partnering with Department Heads.
• Work with Department Heads to identify staffing needs, long term development plans and succession planning.
• Effectively and regularly communicate to ensure organizational clarity around key dates, strategic direction, deadlines, deliverables, roles and responsibilities, and department culture/ behavior.

• Master’s degree in Business Management or equivalent field preferred; or an undergraduate degree with at least 6 years of related work experience.
• Demonstrated financial acumen with ability to think creatively in deal structuring
• Demonstrated proactive, collaborate approach.
• Strong verbal, written communication and interpersonal skills
• Team management experience
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from colleagues and clients.
• Ability to creatively problem solve and manage conflict
• Record of successful driving and implementation of change
• Strong systems expertise in E-mail, Spreadsheet, Word Processing and Presentation software (Microsoft Office preferred)
• Ability to create and analyze spreadsheets, graphs, reports and business…