The effect of roll shifting strategy on roll comprehensive contour in hot strip mill was investigated,and a multi-objective optimization model for roll shifting strategy was presented. Taking roll wear contour, roll thermal contour and roll ground contour into account, the effect of different roll shifting strategy on comprehensive contour was studied by numerical simulation, and two evaluation indexes including body smoothness and edge smoothness were presented. Body smoothness average and edge smoothness average of all strips were selected as optimization objectives, and the multi-objective method of NSGA-II as the optimizer, and then a multi-objective optimization model for roll shifting strategy was built. The results show work roll shifting can smooth roll wear contour and thermal contour, and roll shifting strategy with varying stroke can gain the dish-shaped roll comprehensive contour without local cat ear, and it is helpful to achieve schedule free rolling. Finally, practical application cases confirm the validity of the optimal shifting strategy and related model, and it can improve strip profile, and extend the rolling miles of rolling campaigns.