Photography Services Director

TheLab • New York, NY

2d • $150,000 - $160,000 • Onsite

About The Position

We’re looking for an experienced and highly organised Photography Services Director to join our global creative production agency team, working onsite with one of the world’s leading auction houses. Reporting into the Global Business Director, this role will be responsible for leading and elevating photography delivery across all the client’s regions, including London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong and CEMEA. The Photography Services Director will oversee global photography standards, operational consistency, technical excellence, team development and service delivery across lot photography, campaign photography, video capture, offsite shoots, event photography, portraiture and photography-adjacent studio operations. This role sits at the intersection of photography, luxury, production and operations. The ideal candidate is a senior photography leader with deep technical expertise, strong operational judgement and the ability to manage complex teams, workflows and stakeholder relationships across multiple markets. The successful candidate will bring a refined eye for quality, a calm and practical leadership style, and the ability to balance creative ambition with the pace, precision and process requirements of a high-volume global production environment.

Requirements

• 10+ years’ experience in photography production, studio leadership, photographic operations or a senior technical photography role.
• Proven experience leading multi-site or large-scale photography teams in a high-volume production environment.
• Strong technical understanding of professional photography workflows, capture systems, lighting, colour management, file handling and post-production handoff.
• Strong understanding of both creative photography standards and operational production requirements.
• Proven ability to manage complex stakeholders, senior client relationships and cross-functional teams with professionalism and composure.
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities across multiple regions and time zones.
• Strong people leadership skills, with experience coaching, developing and supporting both technical and operational team members.
• Experience with photography workflow tools and digital asset management systems; experience with Creative Force is desirable.
• Strong working knowledge of Capture One, Adobe Photoshop and professional studio workflows.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate technical or operational issues into clear, practical recommendations.
• Calm under pressure, solutions-focused and comfortable working in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments.

Nice To Haves

• Experience managing photography for luxury, fashion, fine art, premium retail, publishing, ecommerce or culturally significant objects is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead the global photography team of 28 people across London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong and CEMEA, ensuring consistent standards, processes and ways of working across all regions.
• Act as the senior photography lead for the account, partnering closely with the Global Business Director, Global Production Director, Regional Account Directors, Photography Managers, Producers and client stakeholders.
• Work closely with the client’s Global Head of Photography acting as their day to day point of contact on the account.
• Provide direction, coaching and support to regional photography teams, helping to build consistency, confidence and shared best practice across all locations.
• Ensure photography output reflects the client’s brand, style guidelines, technical specifications and luxury positioning across all sale categories and content types.
• Support the continued development and implementation of global photography guidelines, ensuring they remain practical, current and consistently applied.
• Oversee end-to-end photography workflows globally, including scheduling, shoot coordination, capture, asset handoff, post-production readiness, quality control and final delivery. Ensuring all global teams are working in alignment where possible.
• Work with regional teams to manage capacity, resource planning and prioritisation across onsite, offsite and freelance photography support. To ensure all eligible lots and agreed content are photographed within required timelines and in line with agreed SLAs.
• Oversee global delivery across lot photography, editorial, marketing and campaign photography, exhibition and event photography, portraiture, offsite shoots, video capture and simple lot video workflows.
• Ensure photography studios are operationally ready, appropriately equipped and able to support efficient delivery of services.
• Partner with global leads to forecast workload, identify bottlenecks and proactively resolve resource or workflow challenges.
• Set and maintain high technical standards across capture, lighting, colour, file handling, metadata, naming conventions and asset delivery.
• Ensure all photography and video outputs meet the client’s technical requirements, brand expectations and agreed regional workflows.
• Work closely with photographers, producers, image editors, artworkers and studio teams to improve first-time pass accuracy and reduce rework.
• Oversee adherence to art handling, studio, security and process protocols across the photography team.
• Support the development of category-specific and regional photography guidance where needed, ensuring local nuance is balanced with global consistency.
• Build strong relationships with the client’s Global Content, Marketing, Operations, Specialist Departments and regional leadership teams.
• Act as a senior escalation point for photography-related service, quality, process or resource issues.
• Navigate a highly matrixed stakeholder environment, managing expectations clearly and professionally across regions and seniority levels.
• Work closely with various client stakeholders to align on priorities, sale timelines, workflow expectations and quality standards.
• Support regional teams in managing sensitive feedback, process change and stakeholder adoption of new ways of working.
• Balance the needs of client stakeholders with practical production realities, ensuring recommendations are commercially and operationally sound.
• Lead, mentor and develop photography teams across London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong and CEMEA.
• Support regional Photography Managers and Producers in building high-performing, collaborative and accountable local teams.
• Identify training needs and support ongoing development across technical, operational and client-facing skills.
• Encourage knowledge sharing between regions, ensuring best practice is documented and adopted globally.
• Support recruitment, onboarding and development of new photography team members where required.
• Help build a positive, professional and collaborative culture across the global photography team.
• Proactively identify opportunities to improve workflow efficiency, quality, consistency and turnaround times.
• Partner with the Global Business Director and Production leads to support regular reporting on photography performance, volumes, capacity, SLA adherence and operational risks.
• Use reporting insights to identify recurring issues, process gaps and opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Support adoption of improved photography workflows, systems and reporting tools across the global team.
• Help ensure photography delivery is aligned to wider account objectives, including efficiency, transparency, quality and scalability.

Benefits

• Opportunity to work closely with one of the world’s most prestigious auction houses.
• Exposure to international photography, luxury, fine art and content production workflows.
• A collaborative, creative and dynamic agency environment.
• The opportunity to shape and elevate photography standards across multiple global markets.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed