From 1979-2004, Prof. Skhirtladze worked at the Giorgi Chubinashvili Chubinashvili Institute of History of Georgian Art; From 1988-2009, he gave lectures at Tbilisi Theological Academy and Seminary, was the head of the Department of Christian Art. In 1987-1998, was head of the Caucasiology Department of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. Since 2006, he has been the director of the Institute of Art History and Theory of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. He leads bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in the field of art history.

Professor Zaza Skhirtladze's main research interests include medieval art of Georgian and Christian East, ethno-cultural and artistic interrelations in the South Caucasus, monastic life and art. The findings of his research are reflected in various books/monographs as well as in academic articles published in local and international scientific journals. He has carried out scientific research visits to the United States of America (Dumbarton Oaks, Washington), Greece (University of Athens), France (Center for the Study of Byzantine Civilization, Collège de France, Paris), Great Britain (Universities of Warwick, Oxford and Cambridge), and Hungary (Central European University, Budapest).

Professor Zaza Skhirtladze has participated in international symposia, workshops and seminars in the United States of America, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Turkey, Israel, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, France, Georgia, Armenia, Hungary, and Switzerland. In addition, over the past three decades, he has been involved in various projects as a project manager or as a participant, including such projects as

• Fixation, restoration and research of newly discovered pre-Christian rock-cut monasteries in the Gareji desert (1997-2000);
• Christian iconography in Georgia (1997-1999);
• Restoration of the monuments in the Lavra of St. David, in the Gareja Desert (2001)
• Corpus of Georgian Murals paintings (2001-2003)
• Corpus of Historical Figures in Georgian Art (2003-2018)
• The Caucasus and Byzantium from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages – Development of  an Innovative Curricula (2012-2015)
• Crossing Borders: Christians, Muslims and Their Art in Eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus (2015-2018)
• Ani: The Georgian cultural heritage (2015-2019).

Professor Zaza Skhirtladze is currently leading two projects: Gelati – Heritage of Davit Agmashenebeli (2023-2025) and Khakhuli triptych icon - church relic, a sign of identity and sovereignty (2023-2026).