portfolio.about
Hi! I'm Cristina Niculescu-Skov, Sr. Design Ops Manager at Planday; based in Copenhagen.
My background runs from journalism through to game design, product management to UX — which is probably why I treat localization as a "systems problem with words in it".
I speak English fluently, Romanian natively and Danish basically.
I'm ambitious and believe that there's always a way to achieve what you want. Like running half-marathons under two hours or buidling and upkeeping a company event website solo for three months (153 users, 99.9% uptime).
If you're scaling a global product and your localization still feels like a costly bottleneck, I'd love to talk: cris.n.skov@gmail.com · LinkedIn
portfolio.philosophy
How I work
Five principles that shape the way I build design and localization operations.
Systematic management
Managing processes in a structured, systematic way.
Employee empowerment
An intentional, but cautious approach to nurturing a culture where employees are empowered and encouraged to contribute.
Efficiency and waste reduction
Through process and information transfer optimization.
Continuous improvement
An ongoing systematic effort, creating the space and tooling necessary for teams to trade velocity for quality and make room for experimentation and bets.
User focus
Identifying, delivering, and enhancing the flow of value to customers and users, through knowledge and information shared continuously.
portfolio.work
Where I've done the work
Six-plus years scaling localization and content operations — the highlights, not the case studies.
Jun 2026 — present
Planday from Xero
Sr. Design Ops Managercurrent
Leading org-wide AI adoption across design & research, and the no-touch translation pipeline for product development.
May 2024 — May 2026
Planday from Xero
Senior Content Designer (UX Specialist)
Cost-efficient, AI-driven cross-org localization ops for all releases, plus scalable UI/UX audit tools and lean workflows.
Oct 2019 — Apr 2024
Planday / Xero
Product — Systems & Localisation (Content Designer)
Owned end-to-end in-product localization for 18 languages, and the foundational guidelines, patterns and IA systems behind it.
Aug 2017 — Nov 2018
Tactile Entertainment
Product Manager
Directed execution and delivery for rapid-cadence releases across three apps and three platforms. Certified Scrum Master.
Dec 2016 — Aug 2017
Tactile Entertainment
UX Designer (Level Designer)
Level and experience design for live mobile titles.
Key projects
- →Built and automated AI localisation pipelines integrated with design and engineering workflows.
- →Established robust documentation practices for AI agent support: content design, design principles, tone of voice.
- →Supported commercial website re-release, source-to-live: 129 pages, 45,000 source words, 8 languages, delivered for review in 3 weeks.
portfolio.skills
Skills, systems & schooling
What I bring to a team, the tools I run it on, and where the thinking came from.
Stack
Competencies
Soft skills
Systems
Languages
Education
- Advanced Content for Product · UXCC2025
- AI for UX (Design Academy) · UX Writing Hub2024
- MSc. Game Design · ITU, Copenhagen2014–2016
- BSc. Medialogy · AAU, Copenhagen2011–2014
- BSc. Journalism & Comm. Sciences · UniBuc, Bucharest2008–2011