People of Vaisala: Zarina Kozhurkina, Data Scientist, Innovation

People of Vaisala is a spotlight series that shows what it looks and feels like to work at Vaisala in different roles, teams, and locations. In each story, we meet one colleague and explore how one of our three Behaviors (Pioneering, Curious, Committed) shows up in their everyday work. This time: Pioneering

Bridging technology and business

Zarina Kozhurkina works as a Data Scientist in the Applied Digital Innovation team, and is based in Vaisala's Vantaa office, operating at the intersection of technology and business. In her role, she proactively identifies and develops opportunities for innovation before they appear on any roadmap. For Zarina, pioneering means thinking ahead of current needs and building solutions that may take time to find their audience. She translates complex technologies into concrete applications, knowing that today's experiments often become tomorrow's strategic advantages.

Some of her initiatives gain immediate traction across business units, while others are intentionally exploratory, planting seeds for capabilities that may become valuable years down the line. Much of her work centers on AI, from advancing supply chain demand forecasting with machine learning to leading hackathons where teams rapidly prototype tangible solutions to business challenges. She also investigates emerging technologies such as quantum computing and local AI with her colleagues, continuously evaluating how new capabilities can create value in responsible, practical ways. 

Pioneering in practice with teams

For Zarina, pioneering is as much about people as it is about algorithms. Her workdays are varied: she splits her time between the office and home, constantly talking with colleagues across departments to understand their challenges, prioritizing together with her manager, and running several projects in parallel. At the office, she builds networks and co-creates solutions; at home, she focuses on deep work like coding and building prototypes.

Lately, she has focused on how innovation truly spreads in organizations, championing the insight that you don’t need to centralize everything or enforce a single way of working. Instead, she empowers teams to discover their own approaches to AI, while she and her colleagues provide strategic guidance and ensure that new solutions integrate smoothly into existing workflows. In practice, that leadership can mean anything from initiating and hosting hackathons to being the go-to sparring partner for practical questions and showcasing quick prototypes that help others see what is possible.

Culture that supports pioneers

Zarina first came to Vaisala as a Giant Leap trainee after one year of master’s studies at university, drawn by a project that resonated with her so strongly that she wrote a personal story in her application. What has kept her here is the culture: everyone is unique, but connected by the desire to solve problems that matter, focus on what is important, and communicate openly.

She especially values the chance to collaborate with people from many departments, each with their own micro-culture, which makes every project feel new and keeps her learning. Outside work, she says she is “trying a bit of everything,” from singing lessons and crossfit to new running routes and strength goals, mirroring the same willingness to test ideas, learn from them, and move forward that also guides how she works at Vaisala.

Across Vaisala, pioneering takes many shapes. In Zarina, it's the conviction that the work you do today matters most when nobody is quite ready for it yet.