Daria Galina

Operations with product thinking.

“Daria is the genius of all things related to project management, specifications, and operational flows. What needs to be tracked, why, and how it helps the end user succeed. She knows.”

COO, tech startup
Available for collaborationSee the proof Open to roles
700
applications processed
340
matched
250+
completed
130
SME companies in Finland and the EU
10
partner schools

Talent matching program I built and ran at Herizon over two years.

Daria Galina

About

Daria Galina

When I moved to Finland in 2022, I prioritized learning Finnish and my studies in business administration and educational sciences.

I landed my first job in Finland in 2024 at a tech startup. One month in, I took ownership of building a program, combining my experience in business operations and project management with my strong interest in tech and learning.

An ops-oriented professional with a background in humanities and over a decade of experience making things happen: leading projects, programs, and teams across consular services, heavy industry, tech, and NGOs, in private and public-adjacent settings.

A stoic and a systems thinker with a growth mindset, I thrive in impact-driven roles.

Proof

Evidence of delivered work.

Operations, project management, product building, account management, learning design & delivery.
Each one: the gap, the fix, the impact.

Operations

Operating model from a blank page, then run: process, tooling, change management, data.

Product ownership

Specs and admin panels for internal tools, iterated with developers. Five launches, including three product redesigns.

Data and reporting

Applications, matches, completions per intake, in one place for partner schools.

Customer success

SME employers onboarded and managed. 130 companies, 36 returned.

Learning design and assessment

Courses, rubrics, evaluation loops. Live and self-study. 1.5 ECTS course in use.

Coaching and mentoring

1:1 career guidance, group workshops, alumni mentoring. 650+ trained.

Program dashboard: 2026 internship funnel from 279 applied to 34 completed, with stage counts and conversion rates
Program dashboard, 2026 funnel

Operations

  • Operations
  • Project management
  • Process design

Talent matching program, built from zero and run for two years

Gap. An early-stage company with international students to place and no process. Tracking in spreadsheets, demand from employers not guaranteed.

Fix. The full operating model: a 260-line order of operations, employer recruitment by advertising the talent pool, 10 partner schools onboarded, cohorts replaced with rolling intake in 2025, a graduate program launched in 2026.

Impact. 700 applications processed, 340 matched, 250+ completed. 117 applications in the peak cycle.

“The processes she builds, the level of analytics and data-driven decision-making she applies, and her ability to utilise AI across different tasks and assignments are beyond the conventional ways of working.”

Former colleague, Chief Revenue & Product Officer
Herizon Talent Matcher landing page for companies: hire diverse, pre-vetted talent, with sign-up form and platform figures
Herizon Talent Matcher, match.herizon.io
Program admin panel: live counts for applications, talent pool, active interns and offers, then recruitment and matching sections with companies, projects, offers and vibe checks
Program admin panel, recruitment and matching

Product ownership

  • Product building
  • Product ownership

Talent Matcher and its admin panel

Gap. Matching by hand did not scale past a few dozen students per cycle.

Fix. Product owner of the matching platform: employers register, post a role and get candidates suggested from the pre-vetted pool. Specced the admin panel behind it. Three redesigns with a developer.

Impact. Matching moved from keyword search to suggested candidates. 130 employers used the pool.

“Daria … took over the whole [internship] program. Now, she and [the developer] have built something that I could only dream of after manually matching ~100 interns.”

COO, tech startup
Partner Advisory Board report, September to December 2025: 65 passed, 31 matched, 97 active companies, 132 projects, students per school and students by track charts; school names blurred
Partner Advisory Board Report, Sep–Dec 2025

Data and reporting

  • Reporting
  • Dashboards
  • Stakeholder management

Partner Advisory Board Report

Gap. Public sector partners asking for matching rates in real time and wanting them higher, with the numbers living in spreadsheets.

Fix. A reporting layer for partner schools: applications, matches, completions per intake, in one place. Tracking moved out of spreadsheets into a system.

Impact. One source of numbers for partner schools.

“You know your team’s truly data-driven when they can fire off their main KPI within six minutes of being asked.”

Startup founder, sharing Daria’s reply to a KPI request
Companies view in the program admin panel: 86 companies accepted, 15 matched, 11 completed, filters, and a company list by industry; company names blurred
Program admin panel: 86 companies since the platform launch, 130 in total

Customer success

  • Account management
  • Customer onboarding
  • Customer success

Account management for HIP and Talent Matcher users

Gap. Employer demand was not always there.

Fix. Managed the SME companies in the Herizon Internship Program (HIP) and the Herizon Talent Matcher (HTM). AI-powered mapping of skills and recruitment needs. Ran onboarding sessions and client meetings.

Impact. 130 companies in Finland and the EU. 36 came back for a second intake or more.

“Thank you so much for doing an amazing job with the internship program! I was genuinely so positively surprised with the level of the interns! Based on the vibe checks, there are two interns that we'd love to make offers to …”

Employer client
Course editor for the onboarding course: assessment details, introduction and end screens, and seven assignments, starting with a 25-question Collaboration Basics Quiz worth 100 points
Onboarding course editor, assessment with 7 assignments

Learning design and assessment

  • Learning design
  • Assessment design
  • Training delivery

Onboarding course with assessment, 1.5 ECTS

Gap. Employer feedback showed gaps in interns' working-life skills: expectations, communication, reporting.

Fix. A pre-internship course with assessment, delivered live and recorded as self-study with an AI-assisted assessment system. Content revised every cohort from participant feedback. Student reporting quality metrics added.

Impact. Credited at 1.5 ECTS by partner schools. 250+ interns completed placements after taking it.

“You’ve put an incredible amount of time and thought into truly understanding how people learn and grow … Thank you for owning this area with such depth and commitment.”

Startup founder
Daria Galina speaking at an event, standing in front of a projection screen

Coaching and mentoring

  • Career guidance
  • Mentoring
  • Public speaking

Workshops, mentoring and 1:1 guidance

Gap. International students and job seekers looking for work in Finland without the local playbook.

Fix. Workshops on working life skills, LinkedIn, networking in a new country. Alumna mentor at Haaga-Helia and mentor in the Mentor4Her programme by International Working Women of Finland. Paid 1:1 career guidance through own business.

Impact. 650+ trained (students and graduates), 250+ in work placements.

“Daria gave me very good no-nonsense advice on the Finnish professional landscape with very useful work tools to use when navigating all aspects of work life (present and future). A good listener, organised, frank and determined, she tailored her advice to my personality and targeted the work to improve on what mattered. You will not waste your time booking a session with Daria.”

1:1 career guidance client

Open to roles

Operations and product roles in scale-ups and growing companies.

  • Head of Operations
  • Program Manager
  • Product Manager
  • Product Operations Lead

Helsinki area, remote / hybrid / on-site, full-time / fixed-term. Employment.

See details

Services

For public sector

Employability programs, jobseeker coaching, workshops

Placement programs for international students, coaching for international jobseekers, and group workshops on working life skills and LinkedIn.

See services

For individuals

Career guidance, one to one

LinkedIn profile, CV and cover letter, networking plan and mock interviews for highly educated professionals job searching in Finland.

See services

Have a question or project in mind? Let's talk.

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