Category Operations and Business Development Intern

About the role and team

As a Category Operations and Business Development Intern within Classic Interiors, you’ll join a passionate team of 12 experts who are dedicated to curating exceptional online auctions, featuring objects ranging from antique furniture to Swarovski figurines. Every day, our team meticulously selects and presents these treasures in live auctions, ensuring they find their way to enthusiastic buyers across the globe.

To achieve this, our experts engage in a variety of operational tasks, from object evaluation to ensuring the smooth execution of auctions. This is where you come in. As an intern, you’ll provide vital support for these daily tasks, enabling the experts to focus on what they do best: curating extraordinary collections and creating inspiring auctions. At the same time, the success of the Classic Interiors category is deeply tied to our Sales team - a group of professionals who manage relationships with sellers and ensure a steady pipeline of high-quality items. Collaboration between these two departments is key to driving profitable business. To enhance efficiency and collaboration, the Sales team recently adopted a new way of working, presenting an exciting opportunity for you as an intern. In this role, you’ll contribute to fostering stronger alignment between the category and sales, shaping how these teams work together to achieve shared goals.

This internship offers a unique blend of operational involvement and collaborative problem-solving. It’s a chance to immerse yourself in the world of Classic Interiors while making a meaningful contribution to the efficiency and success of our auctions. If you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and be part of a dynamic and inspiring team, this is the role for you.

What You’ll Do 

Drive Impactful Outcomes: Understand our company strategy and collaborate with internal teams to deliver the most impactful outcomes, ensuring both long-term growth and short-term wins.

Shape the Future of Lead Generation: Work closely with the Business development team to define the criteria and the tools to provide the best leads who will contribute to the success of the BD strategy. 

Optimize and Innovate with CRM Tools: Take ownership of our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, such as HubSpot, to streamline internal reporting and tracking processes. Use these tools to create impactful seller strategies, design creative outreach templates, and implement data-driven sequences that align with category goals. Your work will enhance team efficiency and refine how we connect with our sellers.

Streamline Auction Operations: Champion the efficiency of our auctions by optimizing inventory management processes, such as bulk actions and approvals. Collaborate with experts to ensure our tools and workflows enable more time for curating exceptional lots and negotiating key deals.

Enhance Cross-Functional Collaboration: Act as the bridge between customer support and category experts by streamlining ticket tagging and assignment. Your efforts will not only improve workflows but also contribute to a seamless customer and seller experience.

Who You Are 

• You are a bachelor/HBO or master's student 
• You are enrolled at an educational institution in the Netherlands for the entire duration of the internship 
• Minimum duration of 6 months
• Fluent in English
• Residency in the Netherlands (preferred Amsterdam region)
• Outcome-Driven: You are action driven and have a results-oriented mindset, with a history of setting and achieving ambitious goals.
• Analytical Mind: You have a strong analytical mindset, capable of deriving actionable insights from data to inform decisions and drive continuous improvement.
• Collaborative Innovator: You excel at working with cross-functional teams to develop, integrate, and optimize processes. 
• Culturally Adaptable: You thrive in an international environment, embracing the opportunity to collaborate with team members and sellers from diverse cultural backgrounds. Your global mindset ensures seamless communication and teamwork across borders.
• Process-Oriented and Resilient: You have an affinity for structured workflows and find satisfaction in optimizing and executing processes, even when tasks are repetitive. Your reliability and focus help maintain the team’s operational efficiency.
• Proactive Self-Starter: You thrive in a dynamic environment, taking initiative and demonstrating a hands-on approach to supporting the team and contributing to the success of the category.
  

Where You’ll Be 

The role is hybrid and based in the Amsterdam office. Requiring 2 days in our Amsterdam office and the rest of the week working remotely. You will collaborate with the team using tools like Google Meet, Slack and Google Suites.