Auction House Partnerships & Market Development Fellow

Company: Sarvah

About SARVAH
SARVAH is building a new knowledge infrastructure for cultural heritage.
Our first objective is to help professionals produce richer, more transparent and evidence-based knowledge about artworks through our Cultural Research Intelligence Framework (CRIF).
Longer term, SARVAH aims to transform cultural heritage into an identity-centred discovery experience (QEST), connecting people with meaningful cultural objects through structured knowledge rather than keywords alone.
Our international team currently includes researchers, historians, software architects, AI specialists and developers across Europe and North America.
We are now looking for someone who understands the realities of the auction world.
Your Mission
You will help us understand the market before we build the market.
Rather than selling an existing product, you will work alongside the founder to discover:
* How auction houses currently research artworks.
* Where specialists lose time.
* Which information they wish they had.
* Which processes could be improved.
* What would genuinely create value.
You will become the voice of the market inside SARVAH.
Responsibilities
* Conduct interviews with auctioneers, specialists and valuers.
* Help map workflows inside auction houses.
* Identify pain points and unmet needs.
* Build relationships with auction houses, galleries and experts.
* Help validate SARVAH's product direction.
* Contribute to early partnership discussions.
* Prepare pilot collaborations with selected institutions.
* Help define our future commercial strategy.
Ideal Profile
We would particularly like to hear from people with experience in:
* Auction houses
* Art advisory
* Valuation
* Fine art logistics
* Museum collections
* Gallery management
* Art technology
* Collection management
* Art market consulting
You do not need to be a software engineer.
Curiosity, communication skills and a genuine understanding of the art market matter far more.
What You'll Gain
This is a unique opportunity to help design a product from its earliest stages.
You will collaborate with an international team working at the intersection of:
* Artificial Intelligence
* Knowledge Graphs
* Cultural Heritage
* Art History
* Provenance Research
* Semantic Technologies
Rather than joining a finished company, you will help shape its direction.
Compensation
This is currently a volunteer fellowship.
However, we expect this role to evolve as SARVAH grows.
Early contributors will be among the first considered for future paid positions, long-term responsibilities and success-based commercial opportunities as the project reaches market.

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