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.
The portfolio is meant to be viewed online, where the videos and prototypes play. This is a reading copy of what can be shared. samisurakka.com
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Work
A lot of the work is confidential. This document includes what can be shared.
Groke Pro
2021–2022 ✦ Product designer
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Insta: Emergency Response System
2015–2019 ✦ UX lead
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Cambri Survey Programming
2025–2026 ✦ Lead product designer / Product manager
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Groke Fleet
2022, 2023 ✦ Product designer
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Tietoevry Patient Monitoring
2022–2024 ✦ Principal designer (interim)
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RISE Concept
2024 ✦ Solo designer
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Zeabuz Re-design
2025 ✦ Design consultant ✦ Invited after seeing Groke work ✦ Password protected
Across hundreds of organisations the throughput gain is single digits to low teens. The decisions around the code, and the machine that can absorb it, are still the work.
Continuous delivery is still right. AI raised the cost of skipping the product half of release — ownership, exposure, and a story the org can tell.
Problem
A 2–4 person agency in another timezone made design slow and expensive, blocking safety-critical improvements.
Solution
Replaced the agency setup with an embedded design process, delivering faster at lower cost.
Design velocity
2× faster
Design cost
50% lower
Groke Pro is a mission-critical application designed to help ships navigate safely using AI-powered object detection and situational awareness. I was responsible of the redesign of its interface, emphasizing clarity and safety under real, demanding operational conditions, and established the design language for the product family. The design balanced advanced technology with a futuristic, intuitive user experience suited for demanding environments. That language carried into Groke Fleet, which was nominated for the Red Dot Design Award.
In collaboration with Mikko McMenamin, Asko Lahti and Samu Aronen.
Before Sami joined, the design work was expensive and significantly slower. With Sami's help, Groke's design process became twice as fast and half as costly.
No UX research, no user documentation, and one designer on leave for a system handling 3M calls per year.
Solution
Rebuilt UX from the ground up: research practice, design library, operator workflows, and grew the team to 3.
Calls per year
3 M
Calls answered under 30s
94%97%
End-user satisfaction
4.3 / 5
UX team growth
13
I started at Insta as a UX trainee and quickly became the sole usability expert for Response, a product used in Finland's national emergency response system processing approximately 3 million calls per year. Despite the steep learning curve, I acted as the UX lead for the product family, driving user research, workflow design, and tooling modernization. I helped grow the UX team and established a leaner, more structured design process. The work taught me how to operate in highly regulated, high-stakes environments where usability can have real-world consequences.
New clients cannot tell how to structure a test, and power users cannot get enough control.
Solution
A single document-like editor with a strong default and professional depth, and a coded component library the rest of the platform builds from.
At Cambri, I led the rebuild of the survey programming experience for an AI-powered market research platform used by global brands including Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Carlsberg, Electrolux, and Danone. Studies on the platform combine data from hundreds to thousands of respondents. Programming a test meant working in two places that did not match how a study is designed, and new clients routinely needed hands-on help to launch one. I designed the new flow, and the product around it, to be ready for an AI assistant that helps people write surveys. Related work on reporting is covered separately.
I recommend Sami as a highly professional product designer who creates high-quality product solutions. He took on responsibilities well beyond product design and worked as a full-stack product person: product analytics dashboards, coordinating releases, communicating them internally and externally, video walk-throughs, and a monthly product newsletter. His particular strength is that he is always open to feedback, new ideas, and a collaborative way of working, which makes working with him smooth and pleasant.
Roman Nikolaev, CTO @ Cambri
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In collaboration with Roman Nikolaev and Heidi Varpenius.
Shore operators had no way to monitor multiple vessels and spot risks at fleet scale.
Solution
A fleet overview that surfaces risks first, then lets operators drill into vessel-level detail. Nominated for Red Dot Design Award.
As an extension of Groke Pro, Groke Fleet provides fleet operators a real-time overview of vessels and voyage data. I designed the system's user experience and visual interface, focusing on surfacing the right information at the right time. The challenge was to make complex spatial and sensor data readable and actionable from a distance over multiple vessels. Although the company ultimately chose not to redeem the award, Groke Fleet received a Red Dot nomination, recognizing its thoughtful and cohesive design. The visual language came from Groke Pro.
In collaboration with Mikko McMenamin, Jari Ijäs and Iiro Lindborg.
In commemoration of Iiro.
Before Sami joined, the design work was expensive and significantly slower. With Sami's help, Groke's design process became twice as fast and half as costly.
Clinicians couldn't scan patient data quickly or trust what they were seeing, starting from a single pilot district.
Solution
Design system from scratch and 5+ new clinical workflows enabling proactive home care.
New workflows designed
5+
Component library usage (survey)
69% daily/weekly
Products covered
2
Themes
Light + dark
I joined Tietoevry as an interim principal designer to redesign a remote patient monitoring system used by healthcare professionals caring for patients at home. The monitoring product's visual quality was not up to par, and the insights product, while in better shape, was visually disconnected. Beyond the visual overhaul, I designed entirely new clinical workflows, built a comprehensive design system, and helped modernize how development, design, and product management collaborated. The design system and workflows are still in active use after my departure.
In collaboration with Petri Tuominen.
The development team greatly benefited from Sami in planning the implementation, and based on the teams' feedback, Sami iterated the designs as needed. Over the year, the appearance of the products evolved in a more professional direction, making them pleasant to use.
Teemu Ekola, Head of Business @ Tietoevry Care (Data & AI)
Crisis responders lacked tools to quickly assess satellite-derived risk data and coordinate across agencies.
Solution
A situational awareness interface with progressive drill-down, built as a working, coded prototype.
Competition entries
226
Designers competing
32
RISE was a concept I designed for a competition focused on crisis management. The goal was to explore how NGOs, such as the Red Cross, and responders could better coordinate during natural disasters. My proposal combined situational awareness, clear prioritization, and a modern, futuristic interface for decision-making under pressure. The design won the competition, which I'm proud of — though I decided afterward not to enter similar contests again. I enjoy the creative challenge, but the amount of unpaid work these formats often generate doesn't feel right to me, even if I did get the prize money from this one-shot experiment.
Researchers spend days manually stitching reports from fragmented study data.
Solution
A WYSIWYG editor that pulls data across studies into one reporting workflow.
Active orgs using it
53%
Repeat use, >3 reports
9%
Reports automated
56%
At Cambri, I led the design of a reporting product for an AI-powered market research platform used by global brands including Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Carlsberg, Electrolux, and Danone. The work also carried product duties: specs, success metrics, stakeholder alignment, roadmap contribution, and cross-functional planning. Related work on survey programming is covered separately.
Sami has a great ability to turn complex ideas and constraints into clear, intuitive solutions. He challenges when needed, always keeps the user in focus, and is incredibly easy to collaborate with.
Philip Willfors, Product Owner @ Cambri
In collaboration with Philip Willfors, Heidi Varpenius and Roman Nikolaev.
The previous app was not designed for mobile, making onboarding and KYC flows clunky and error-prone.
Solution
Design sprints with user-tested prototypes that became the foundation for the launched app.
I facilitated a short, high-intensity design sprint for a fintech business developing a mobile app for investment management and know-your-customer processes. Working closely with stakeholders, I mapped out the core user journeys, led ideation sessions, and conducted user testing with a high-fidelity prototype for validation. The sprint helped clarify the product direction, align the team, and set a solid foundation for development. The app launched in early 2026.
Complex 3D tolerance workflows were error-prone, and the public had no visibility into project status.
Solution
Simplified expert workflows and a new public transparency tool, now in use across Nordics and Baltics.
A Finnish infrastructure startup brought me in to help simplify two complex pieces of their product offering. The first was a redesign of a technically demanding workflow for managing error tolerances. I ran a lightweight design sprint, clarified user flows, and reshaped the interaction model to reduce friction and make the process more intuitive. The second project involved creating a new tool for communicating large infrastructure projects to the public, turning dense technical information into something clear, navigable, and approachable.
It's so obvious when you see it like this.
Both efforts were well received. The client’s reaction, “it's so obvious when you see it like this” captured the goal: taking complicated material and turning it into tools that are easier to work with and easier to understand.
Separate services lacked a unified experience, and leadership needed proof the vision could work.
Solution
An interactive, coded demo that turned abstract strategy into something stakeholders could experience.
For a Finnish weather technology company, I led a small design team to create an internal demo intended to spark buy-in for a new product initiative. The brief was to deliver a "wow" experience: something that would shift internal thinking and build momentum. I created the initial concepts and the final implementation, working with a UX copywriter and a motion designer. The result was a visually cohesive and memorable demo that succeeded in getting executive attention and moving the initiative forward. The design language we established continued to influence later concept work within the company.
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.
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
Cambri
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.
Tietoevry
Principal product designer · 11/2022–06/2024
Remote patient monitoring: design system adopted by two teams, five clinical workflows, later visual migration in days.
Led a team of six designers. Design in early sales and sprints across industrial and enterprise clients.
Insta Response
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%.
Education
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.
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.
