61.2970°N 23.5025°E
© Sami Surakka 2026
Sami Surakka
Hi, I'm Sami. I turn design into practical leverage: clearer workflows, fewer errors, faster decisions, and products that actually ship.
I work on complex and high-stakes systems, from discovery through shipped product, with executives as readily as with engineering, product, and go-to-market.
Currently AI Product Manager and Designer @ Kaiku.
I came into UX and design somewhat by accident. Looking back, though, it feels more like puzzle pieces coming together. I’ve always been drawn to computers, games, and creative problem-solving, but it took a few detours through other disciplines before I found a home in human-centered technology. That path gave me a broad foundation: from coding and research to entrepreneurship and leadership, all grounded in a desire to make complex things simpler and more humane.
Over the years, I’ve worked across industries where usability, design, and UX are not just about convenience, but often about safety, clarity, and trust: from emergency response systems and maritime navigation to healthcare and industrial software. I’ve learned to stay calm under pressure, adapt to new domains quickly, and bring people together around shared goals. My approach is pragmatic rather than dogmatic: every team and every context is different. What matters most is building understanding and delivering meaningful, working solutions.
Design is not just the process; it's the end result.
Co-founder, product design consultant · 08/2020–04/2025, 08/2026–present
Over €100,000 in annual recurring revenue between 2021 and 2024 through direct client relationships and repeat engagements. Paused while at Cambri and restarted in 2026. bumblebee.fi
Lead product designer / product manager · 11/2024–08/2026
Shipped reporting (53% of active organisations in a 90-day window) and rebuilt survey programming into a single editor. A coded Storybook library from that work is what new features are built against.
Principal product designer · 11/2022–06/2024
Remote patient monitoring: design system adopted by two teams, five clinical workflows, later visual migration in days.
Product designer · 09/2021–11/2022
AI+AR navigation at about twice agency speed and half the cost. Groke Fleet was nominated for a Red Dot.
Design lead · 07/2019–09/2021
Led a team of six designers. Design in early sales and sprints across industrial and enterprise clients.
UX lead · 03/2015–06/2019
Finland’s 112 product family, about 3 million calls a year. Grew UX from one designer to three. Share of calls answered within 30 seconds moved from 92–94% to 97–99%.
Pursuing a Doctor of Science in Technology at Tampere University, 2019–present. Research topic: return on investment of user experience. Master of Science (2017) and Bachelor of Science (2016) from Tampere University of Technology.
CV (PDF) · CV (Markdown) · One-page CV
Music has always been a big part of my life, both listening with intent and in the background, and playing wherever I can fit it in. I play drums, dabble on saxophone, and make synth music at home. I'm also in a band called Radon Radon, which we dubbed as being "synthroll" genre. We had gigs lined up right before Covid hit, which put a hard stop on that momentum. The band is based in another city, so we either collaborate remotely on demos or meet up to rehearse when we can.
Most of the rest of my free time goes to my kids' hobbies. I volunteer as a team manager for a junior football club: scheduling, parent communications, the works. My younger son just started ice hockey, which should take care of any remaining free time.