Head of Governance and Testing

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Head of Governance and Testing

Apply locations London New York time type Full time posted on Posted 5 Days Ago job requisition id JR00013703

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.

Why This Role Matters

Christies Technology Group is seeking a seasoned and strategic leader to join Christie’s Technology Group (CTG) as the Head of Governance and Testing. This is a permanent leadership role responsible for ensuring robust technology governance, effective project delivery, takes ownership of establishing policy for the test team and setting the testing strategy and ongoing development of project management competency across the organization. The ideal candidate will bring deep experience in governance frameworks, project programme portfolio management, and software testing within complex technology environments. As our Head of Governance and Testing, you will be instrumental in implementing Governance frameworks, enable strategic planning and scalability, be responsible for test improvement and optimisation, manage third parties to ensure rigorous software testing and validation are in place. This role offers a unique opportunity to help shape the technical direction of CTG building world-class solutions. You’ll be working with Christie’s business, Product Owners, Architects, Infra, Dev Ops, SRE, Testing and Data teams to own continuous improvement, researching new technology and new techniques to implement change. With such a large-scale Programme of work, your ability to anticipate issues, proactively communicate, ensure clear mitigations to risk and understand and manage dependencies is critical. Flexibility, creative thinking, relationship skills and cross-discipline collaboration are essential.

This is a role based in our London King Street Office with a flexible remote work policy

How You\’ll Make an Impact

Governance & Portfolio Management
• Define, implement, and continuously improve CTG governance frameworks aligned with business and regulatory requirements.
• Oversee the Portfolio Management Office (PfMO), ensuring transparency and control over project investments, prioritization, and value realization.
• Develop policies, standards, and controls for effective technology decision-making and risk management.
• To lead on the development and review of governing documents, policies and procedures, taking account of changes in best practice and/or statutory or regulatory requirements.
Project Programme Portfolio Management Competency
• Lead and mentor a team of project/programme/portfolio managers, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with strategic goals.
• Establish delivery framework and maintain project delivery methodologies (e.g., Agile, Waterfall, Kanban, hybrid) appropriate for various initiatives.
• Monitor, control and govern progress, budgets and schedules of portfolio / programmes/ Projects.
• Coordinate the planning, demand and initiation of portfolios at various levels of milestones.
Testing & Quality Assurance
• Own the enterprise-wide testing strategy to ensure all technology solutions meet quality, security, and performance benchmarks.
• Responsible for test improvement and optimisation; have responsibility for talent, succession planning and supplier management and make important decisions relating to test within the context of the delivery environment.
• Lead teams responsible for manual and automated testing across application development and infrastructure initiatives.
• Champion continuous testing practices and the integration of quality assurance within the SDLC and DevOps pipelines.
Leadership & Collaboration
• Serve as a senior leader within the technology group, contributing to strategic planning and cross-functional collaboration.
• Build strong relationships with key stakeholders across business units to align governance and delivery with organizational objectives.
• Advocate for a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• Pro-active monitoring and management of long-term strategic goals and on continuous improvement with a Commitment to delivering service improvements.

What you’ll bring to the team

• Bachelor\’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business, or related field; a Master’s degree is a plus.
• 25+ years of experience in technology governance, project management, or QA/testing leadership roles.
• Proven experience managing high-performing teams and large portfolios of complex projects.
• Strong knowledge of IT governance frameworks (e.g., COBIT, ITIL), portfolio management tools, and quality management systems.
• Certification in PMP, PRINCE2, SAFe, or equivalent highly desirable.
• Experience working in or with technology functions supporting auction houses, high end retail, e-commerce platforms, or financial services is advantageous.
• Have successfully managed engineering deliverables for multiple enterprise-scale software development Programmes from concept to launch
• Experience working in large, preferably global, software organizations, working across multiple locations with multiple software directors and managers and teams to deliver software releases to market
• Experience working in an fast moving agile environment
• Strong communication and solution-oriented, with the ability to clearly and concisely explain complex organizational or technical problems
• Strong interpersonal skills, with proven ability to navigate complex environments and influence stakeholders and partners
• High integrity and a strong sense of accountability.

What’s great about working for us

· 25 days annual leave + 1 day Birthday leave

· Christie’s Christmas office closure (guaranteed between 25th Dec – 2nd Jan) – in addition to annual leave: almost two weeks to fully switch off and spend time with friends and family

· Additional 1 week’s annual leave within the year of a 5-year anniversary i.e. 5th, 10th, 15th and so on

· Volunteering day: Take an additional day of annual leave to volunteer for a charitable organisation that’s important to you

· Donation matching of up to £500 per annum to help you support the organisations you care about

· Flexible Fitness Fund – £400 per year expense allowance for health and wellness related activity (taxable)

· Access to world-renowned art: with regular exhibitions in our galleries to wander around and exclusive guided tours hosted by specialist colleagues

· Discretionary Bonus (dependent on the business and employee performance payable in March each year)

· Generous retirement plan: We will double match your pension contribution up to 5% of your basic salary (Max 10% contribution from Christie’s)

· Private Health Insurance – no employee contribution needed, subsidised for other family members

· Dental Insurance – (may be extended at personal cost)

· Generous Income Protection Insurance in the event of accident, sickness or injury after 12 months

· Competitive Life Insurance policy from first day

· Employee Assistance Programme – access to personal advice and support services including counselling

· Eyecare vouchers (once a year)

· Cycle to Work scheme

· Christie’s Extras – discounts on over 800 retailers, holiday packages, dinners and weekly shops

· Seniorcare by Lottie, a comprehensive eldercare solution

· Robust family first policy:

-16 weeks full pay on Maternity Leave

-Four-day week, for eight weeks, at full pay on return from Maternity Leave

-Dependent back-up care: 10 sessions/ days of childcare or eldercare per year

-The Stork Club: Our community of parents who meet regularly over breakfasts, lunch, afternoon tea…

*Christie’s reserves the right to change company benefits at any time

Closing Date: 27th July

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About Us

Christie’s is the world’s leading art business. Since 1766, we are known for our extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour.

Every year, we offer around 350 live and online auctions in over 80 specialist categories – including all areas of fine and decorative arts, Asian art and luxury collectables – as well as a long and successful history of private sales.

Contact us in 46 countries, or visit one of our 10 international salerooms in London, New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zürich and Shanghai.

Our Recruitment Privacy Notice can be found here

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