Application Guide

How to Apply for Catalogue Expert (f/m/x) - remote (12 month fixed)

at refurbed

🏢 About refurbed

refurbed is Europe’s fastest-growing refurbished tech marketplace, operating in 23 countries with over €2B in GMV and profitability. As a remote-first company recognized as a Top DACH Employer for four consecutive years, it offers a high-performance, autonomy-driven culture where you can directly contribute to making sustainable consumption the easy choice.

About This Role

As a Catalogue Expert, you will own the structure, quality, and scalability of refurbed’s product catalogue—the category tree, attributes, and data models that power search, filters, listings, pricing, and compliance. This role is critical for enabling customers to find the right refurbished products effortlessly and for supporting the company’s rapid growth across multiple markets.

💡 A Day in the Life

You might start by reviewing data quality reports, then dive into SQL to investigate anomalies in product attributes. Later, you’d collaborate with engineers on implementing a new attribute schema, and end the day documenting taxonomy guidelines for category managers. Expect a mix of analytical work, cross-functional meetings, and hands-on data modeling.

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Interview Prep

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🎯 Who refurbed Is Looking For

  • Proven experience in product taxonomy/classification within e-commerce or marketplace environments, ideally with refurbished or electronics categories.
  • Strong data modeling skills: comfortable defining schemas, attribute sets, and category hierarchies from scratch, not just maintaining existing ones.
  • Proficient in SQL and spreadsheets for data analysis, validation, and migration tasks; able to work with large datasets.
  • Structured thinker with a passion for scalability and quality, who can collaborate remotely with cross-functional teams (engineering, product, category management).

📝 Tips for Applying to refurbed

1

Highlight specific examples of taxonomies or data models you have designed, including the impact on search, filtering, or conversion.

2

Showcase your SQL proficiency by describing how you used it to audit catalogue data, identify gaps, or automate quality checks.

3

Demonstrate familiarity with refurbed’s business model: mention how refurbished product conditions (e.g., like-new, good) affect catalogue attributes and customer expectations.

4

Emphasize your ability to work autonomously in a remote-first, fast-paced environment, providing concrete instances of self-driven projects.

5

Tailor your CV to include keywords like 'taxonomy', 'attribute schema', 'product data model', 'marketplace', and 'e-commerce' to pass ATS and show relevance.

✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter

['Your hands-on experience in building or overhauling product taxonomies for marketplaces, with measurable outcomes (e.g., improved search relevance, reduced misclassifications).', 'Your technical toolkit: SQL, data modeling tools, and spreadsheet expertise, and how you’ve used them to solve catalogue challenges.', 'Your alignment with refurbed’s mission: a genuine interest in sustainable consumption and how a well-structured catalogue supports circular economy goals.', 'Your ability to thrive in a remote, high-autonomy setting: examples of self-management and cross-team collaboration in distributed teams.']

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🔍 Research Before Applying

To stand out, make sure you've researched:

  • → Explore refurbed’s website and app to understand their product categories, filters, and how refurbished condition grades are presented.
  • → Read about refurbed’s mission, recent funding, and expansion news to grasp their growth trajectory and challenges in catalogue scalability.
  • → Investigate common taxonomy challenges in marketplaces (e.g., attribute normalization, multi-locale support) and how refurbed might address them.
  • → Look up refurbed’s engineering blog or public talks to learn about their tech stack and data infrastructure, if available.

💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics

Based on this role, you may be asked about:

1 How would you design a taxonomy for refurbished electronics that accommodates varying conditions and configurations across 23 markets?
2 Describe a time you identified and fixed a critical flaw in a product data model. What was your approach and the outcome?
3 What SQL queries would you run to audit catalogue completeness and accuracy? Walk us through your process.
4 How do you prioritize attribute creation when scaling a catalogue rapidly while maintaining data quality?
5 How would you collaborate with engineering and category teams to ensure taxonomy changes don’t break existing search or pricing systems?
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⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Focusing only on operational catalogue maintenance rather than strategic schema design and scalability—this role requires a builder mindset.
  • Neglecting to mention SQL or data modeling in your application; these are core requirements, so omitting them suggests a lack of fit.
  • Applying with a generic cover letter that doesn’t reference refurbed’s mission, remote-first culture, or the specific challenges of refurbished product data.

📅 Application Timeline

This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.

Typical hiring timeline:

1

Application Review

1-2 weeks

2

Initial Screening

Phone call or written assessment

3

Interviews

1-2 rounds, usually virtual

✓

Offer

Congratulations!

Ready to Apply?

Good luck with your application to refurbed!

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