Linas Smalakys#

I’m a physicist turned technical risk leader, and an alpinist from Lithuania.

I did my PhD in physics at Vilnius University, on how femtosecond laser pulses slowly wear down optical coatings. I spent eight years at Lidaris, a laser metrology company, writing software and doing data science, rising from data analyst to lead software engineer to Chief Scientific Officer, and then moved into banking. I now head Credit Risk Model Validation at Danske Bank.

In the mountains I’ve climbed Alpine classics such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn, and more technical routes such as the Arête du Diable and the Grandes Jorasses traverse. I’ve also tried high altitude, on Ismoil Somoni Peak (7,495 m). Some of my ascents have been recognised by the Lithuanian Mountaineering Association.

Now#

At Danske Bank I’m building what I want to be the most advanced credit risk model validation function in the Nordics: automated analysis, modern data pipelines and a modern tech stack. That work now includes validating AI models, among them agentic AI and LLM-based systems that may be used in credit: how to validate and monitor them, and keep people accountable for the decisions they support.

Alongside that, I was selected for a small group that spearheads AI adoption across the bank. On the specialist side, that means helping people find the right AI tools for their work and give them a real try, even if only to critique them. On the leadership side, it means helping leaders manage AI-augmented teams, understand the benefits, risks and governance of AI, and set ambitions that are big enough.

Mountains#

I climb mostly in the Alps and the Tatras, and run the occasional ultramarathon. Every ascent is logged here, and some of them count towards well-known mountaineering lists:

Alps 4000ers All activities Trip reports

Tools#

Physics-based calculators for alpinists:

Altitude & Oxygen: how much oxygen each breath holds at the altitude you are heading to, compared to sea level.
Stove Fuel: how much canister gas to carry, from the water you need, how much comes from snow, your stove and the altitude.

Altitude & Oxygen Stove Fuel

Work#

Over a decade across laser physics research, R&D and quantitative modelling, now in credit risk. Before banking, I spent ten years researching laser-induced damage at the Laser Research Center of Vilnius University.

Resume Publications

Elsewhere: LinkedIn · Strava · Google Scholar · ORCID