Unlocking the Power of Data for a Sustainable Future ?

We caught up with Thomas Burgess?from our Data Science team at refurbed?to get an insider’s look! From tackling complex challenges to diving into cutting-edge projects and leveraging a tech stack that fuels their creativity, Thomas gave us the lowdown on what keeps the team inspired and thriving every day.

Tell us about you and your story at refurbed so far?

"Since early 2023, I've led the data science team at Refurbed, where we use data and modelling to better help our customers find their next offering of refurbished products. My background is in particle physics, where I hunted for neutrinos with IceCube in Antarctica and discovered Higgs Bosons with the ATLAS experiment at CERN. After academia, I have worked in data science with GPS-free mobile positioning using SLAM algorithms. I also optimized search and marketing spend for a travel e-commerce and provided statistics and analytics for take-home blood tests. I joined Refurbed because they offered opportunities to solve complex and impactful data problems while also working on a mission to reduce waste and promote a circular economy."

What is exciting about working as a data scientist at refurbed?

"Our team is a proactive partner, actively engaging with departments throughout the company. To mention a few, we've worked with our product, marketing, customer support, and supply teams. By collaborating closely with stakeholders from the outset, we ensure our projects are solving the right problem. We pay close attention to the rapidly evolving state-of-the-art in data science, but pick our tools carefully to ensure stable and straightforward solutions. Our data and services are accessed through the Google Cloud Platform and are developed using a typical Python-based data science stack (pandas, polars, matplotlib, plotly, scikit-learn, PyTorch, XGBoost, etc)."

What challenges are you and the team seeing? What does the future look like?

"Our current challenges include pricing optimization, personalized recommendations to improve customer experience, forecasting for marketing planning, topic modeling for customer support ticketing, and other projects like optimizing supply chain analytics and customer segmentation. Our goal is to improve retention, drive conversions, and refine personalization, ensuring every insight adds value.

If these insights got you curious or excited about the work we’re doing at refurbed , why not take not take the next step and join us? Our Data Science team is growing, and we’re always on the lookout for passionate, curious minds to help us solve meaningful problems with data."