About Masterworks:

Masterworks is a fintech platform that allows anyone to invest in SEC-qualified shares of multi-million dollar paintings by names like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso. In just three short years, we have built a portfolio of nearly $700 million in world-class artworks, introducing over 575,000 individuals to the $1.7 trillion art market.

Masterworks has been covered by major media publications such as The New York Times, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times, and was recently recognized as one of the Top 50 Startups in the US by LinkedIn.

In 2021, Masterworks achieved unicorn status raising $110M in its Series A fundraising round at a valuation exceeding $1 billion.

Our 180+ employees are based out of our offices at Brookfield Place in the Financial District of New York City. With an entirely in-office team, there are endless opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and learning.

Why Masterworks?

• Do you thrive on disruption?
• Do you want to live at the cutting edge of finance, technology, and art?
• Are you passionate about democratizing alternative investments?
• Do you enjoy meaningful work that has a noticeable impact on business performance?

If you answered “Yes” to any of the above, we'd love to hear from you!

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Position Overview:

This is not your typical art researcher opportunity. We are looking for a Researcher to help us set the absolute ** industry standard in** art research. You will be responsible for researching, verifying, compiling and documenting the world's fastest growing contemporary art collection and managing due diligence on artworks for dozens of new acquisitions every month. You will be the go-to for researching: provenance, exhibitions, literature, authentication protocols, artist history, market context and more.

Our Researcher will become an expert on cutting edge tools to research, organize and document your research–database tools, automations, analytics tools–how research will get done in the 21st century.

Your research will include qualitative and quantitative analysis. Your role will work collaboratively and cross functionally with other teams, including private sales, valuations and finance. You're going to become familiar with best practices for due diligence in two different fields: art and finance, and act as the expert liaison between the two worlds.

Our Researcher combines a love and expertise for contemporary art with a highly process driven, analytical mind-set. You love to get stuff done. You are ready for a fast-paced environment unlike anything in the art market. You will see more art than anywhere else.

The Researcher will be a part of our incredible Art Operations team and report initially to the Transaction Manager and work closely with the EVP of Acquisitions. **
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Responsibilities Overview:

As Masterworks's Researcher, you will be responsible for:

• Owning, cataloging and maintaining Masterworks expertise on artists and artwork in the collection, including:

  • relationships with estates, foundations and similar authoritative bodies
  • catalog raisonnés and other relevant literature
  • developments in exhibitions, retrospectives and similar
  • developments in commercial markets (gallery representation)

• Owning and developing process for written output and other deliverables related to artwork in our collection, including:

  • Descriptions, narrative and analysis required in Masterworks offering documents (1-As and similar)
  • Historical appreciation worksheets and similar analysis
  • Artwork specific-information for the private sales team marketing materials

• Owning artwork due diligence, including:

  • Provenance, exhibition and literature research
  • Authenticity protocols (estate communications, certificates, etc)
  • Stolen art databases

• Supporting senior management in maintaining industry-exceeding artwork transaction policies

  • Remain apprised of best practices in object level due diligence
  • Stay current on authentication protocols by artist
  • Visit fairs, galleries, collections, etc to maintain and grow expertise

• Identifying and training junior support talent to help scale your duties

• Coordinating support for:

  • Sourcing valuations
  • Quarterly portfolio valuations

Requirements or Skill Sets:

• 3-6 years of experience in the commercial art market, museums, foundations, estates, galleries, auction house or similar
  • Less experience? Apply anyway if you are a rockstar and tell us why!
• Extensive knowledge of the Post War and Contemporary Art
• You live and breathe best practices in research and provenance
• You know how to prioritize
• You love research and are intellectually curious
• You love problem solving and love to implement, iterate and scale new processes
• You write flawlessly with clarity, brevity and impact
• Familiarity with Airtable a big plus
• You are an Excel and/or Google Sheets power user
• You have task management superpowers – Clickup, Monday, Asana, Airtable, etc.
• Highly analytical, data driven, discrete and highly organized
• Fast learner with excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Meticulous attention to detail
• Need to be in high-growth, fast-paced environment
• USPAP Certification, a plus

Measurements of Success in First 90 Days:

• Getting fully up to speed on Masterworks' list of 60 artist markets
• Successfully perform research, due diligence and documentation for ~40-60 prospective acquisitions

Additional Requirements:

• Must be able to work in the NYC office.
• Must be eligible to work in the US - no exceptions.

Benefits at Masterworks:

• Daily catered lunches
• Free admission to art museums and galleries
• Health, dental, and vision coverage with FSA options
• PTO and 401k
• Discounted Equinox membership
• Happy hours, company outings, social clubs, and more!

How does Masterworks think about compensation?

The compensation range for the role is $70-90k (inclusive only of base salary, and exclusive of other potential competitive benefits such as on-target commission, bonus payments, and equity). Our ranges are very broad to accommodate all types of candidates and encourage growth. Specific compensation offered to a candidate may be dependent on factors such as education, experience, qualifications, and alignment with market data. Exceptional candidates may receive salaries outside of the posted ranges.