Application Support Lead

Application Support Lead

Christie's, the world's largest Art Business, is an incredibly exciting and 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.

We are seeking a dynamic and resilient Application Support Lead to oversee a complex environment of 100+ business-critical applications and lead a multi-vendor support team of approximately 100 professionals at a prestigious auction house in London.

This is a leadership-focused role, not a hands-on technical position. The ideal candidate will possess exceptional communication skills, a calm and decisive approach under pressure, and a proven ability to manage vendors and globally dispersed teams within a Managed Service structure.

You will act as the central point of coordination between business stakeholders, internal IT, and third-party vendors—ensuring accountability, performance, and consistent service delivery. You will also lead and support application-related projects such as upgrades, migrations, and vendor transitions.

Leadership & Vendor Management

• Lead and coordinate a multi-vendor support team (~100 staff) supporting 100+ applications.
• Build and maintain strong vendor relationships to ensure service alignment and accountability.
• Manage vendor contracts, enforce SLAs/KPIs, and oversee governance processes.
• Develop vendor scorecards and facilitate quarterly business reviews.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across vendor delivery and service quality.
• Serve as the escalation point for vendor-related issues, ensuring timely resolution and clear communication.
• Foster collaboration between vendors, internal teams, and business stakeholders to resolve critical incidents.

Internal Application Support

• Ensure consistent execution of IT processes including onboarding/offboarding, access provisioning, and licensing.
• Promote documentation, training, and knowledge sharing across support teams.
• Partner with business users to ensure applications meet operational and strategic needs.

Technology Oversight

• Maintain overall health and performance of 100+ business applications.
• Oversee ticket and incident management, ensuring SLA compliance and timely resolution.
• Collaborate with vendors on root cause analysis and prevention of recurring issues.
• Monitor application security risks and escalate appropriately.
• Maintain working knowledge of Microsoft O365 (SharePoint, Exchange Online, Azure AD).
• Coordination and alignment with Onsite Engineering teams.

Project Management

• Lead or support application-related projects (e.g., upgrades, migrations, vendor transitions).
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to scope, plan, and deliver projects.
• Ensure vendor alignment with project timelines, budgets, and deliverables.
• Balance project execution with ongoing operational support.

What you'll bring to the team

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Systems, or equivalent experience.
• ITIL v3/v4 certification strongly preferred.
• Additional certifications (e.g., Microsoft, Azure, Prince2, PMP, Agile/Scrum) are a plus.
• 3+ years in IT leadership roles with a focus on application and vendor management.
• Proven experience managing multi-vendor teams of 50+ (ideally 100+).
• Strong background in supporting large-scale application environments (100+ apps).
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Calm and effective under pressure (e.g., major incidents, escalations).
• Experience managing vendor SLAs, KPIs, and governance frameworks.
• Strong customer service orientation, including support for executive stakeholders.
• Familiarity with Microsoft O365 and enterprise application ecosystems.
• Experience with ITSM/ticketing systems (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira).
• Exposure to budgeting and cost control in vendor-heavy environments is desirable.
• Industry experience in finance, media, luxury, or events is a plus.

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…