Masterworks

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

Company Overview:

Masterworks is a fintech platform where anyone can invest in shares of SEC-registered blue-chip paintings by names like Banksy, Monet, and Picasso. So far, their current holdings exceed $300M across over 80 works, which is expected to surpass $1 billion in 2022. Right now, new paintings launch on their platform every week.

With 150 employees and over 300,000 registered users, the business has been featured in major media publications such as The NY Times, CNBC, CNN, WSJ, and more. After becoming profitable in early 2020, just three years after being founded, Masterworks raised $110M in its Series A round with a valuation of over $1 billion.

All employees work in their offices at Brookfield Place in the Financial District of New York City.


Position Overview:

We are seeking a Senior Economist with a specialization in Applied Macroeconomics / Applied Financial Economics to join the Macro Research team at Masterworks. This role will be a key member of the Masterworks Research team, which functions to deepen Masterworks’s internal understanding of the art market, aid in investment decisions, and educate investors on the asset class. The role will conduct original research using proprietary data sets of public and private art market transactions. The Senior Economist will be responsible for researching how the art market interacts with the macroeconomy, identifying the most appropriate methodology for constructing art price indices (repeat-sales or hedonic approaches, etc.), as well as engaging in research projects to understand investor / collector dynamics in the art market. The role will also be responsible for validating / enhancing the research team's analysis on the characteristics of the art market (size, transaction volume, liquidity dynamics etc). The role would work closely with our Director of Research and our Art Market Data Analyst.


Responsibilities Overview:

We are seeking a driven, intellectually curious individual, who is experienced with quantitative methods in macroeconomics and financial market research.

Identify macro drivers of the art market
Develop and enhance our in-house art market indices and proprietary performance indicators
Develop quantitative research methods to better understand the art market and its relationship with other investable assets
Validate / enhance the research teams hypotheses and tests regarding key questions about the art market:
What is the total transaction volume in the market? (Estimates vary based on private data)
Role of supply and demand on art prices?
Why are there no segments of the art market that depreciate in value, even though there are some segments which approach inflation-like rates?
How can we think about liquidity in the art market?


Requirements and Preferred Experience:

PhD in economics preferred, areas of expertise include macro economics and / or mathematical and quantitative methods (econometrics and experimental economics)
Strong working knowledge of statistical and econometric methods
Passion for conducting original research
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Experience with data science languages (R, Python) is a plus
Interest in exploring art market dynamics is a plus


Measurements of Success in First 90 Days:

Understand and enhance the current index methodology used by Masterworks
Outline and begin to test the key approaches to understanding macro implications on the art market
Provide feedback on current Masterworks research projects


Additional Requirements:

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