Nathanaël G. Dürst Operations, Strategy & Technology
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Operations, strategy and technology

Experience across operations, risk, human resources and data, connecting strategic decisions with the work required to carry them through.

Profile

Understanding organisations from the inside

Financial operations, process automation, applied AI research and international programme delivery, supported by an MSc in Management from HEC Lausanne. Experience built across functions to understand how work, information and responsibilities connect within an organisation.

A focus on connecting strategy with execution: diagnosing organisational problems, designing better processes and building practical tools to support change. Drawing on experience to assess trade-offs, anticipate consequences and turn strategic ambitions into improvements.

Experience

Professional experience

Sep 2025 — Aug 2026
Swissnex in China

Academic Partnerships & Programs Associate

Consulate General of Switzerland · Shanghai
  • Owned international programmes from opportunity development and proposal design through funding, contracting, budgeting and delivery with universities, research institutions, startups and companies.
  • Reached the full-year acquisition KPIs within Q1 2026 while developing institutional partnerships and recurring programme opportunities.
  • Drafted and negotiated collaboration agreements and led cross-border events, including the 4th Sino-Swiss Research Integrity Workshop at the Swiss Ambassador's Residence in Beijing, coordinating academia, industry and government.
  • Designed reusable AI instructions, prompts and templates for proposal and contract drafting, substantially shortening preparation time while keeping project-specific decisions and final review with the project owner.
Apr 2025 — Jun 2025
Vyntra Global

Data Science Intern

Yverdon-les-Bains
  • Designed and built an on-premises language-model pipeline to extract information from unstructured KYC documentation and produce structured, goAML-compatible data for regulatory reporting.
  • Used quantised models to run the prototype locally, addressing the confidentiality constraints of sensitive banking information without relying on cloud services.
  • Benchmarked output against human review, assessing extraction quality, critical errors and structural validity separately, and defined the controls and further development required for use in financial onboarding.
Sep 2024 — Aug 2025
Bank Innovation Competence Center

Research Assistant

HEC Lausanne · Lausanne
  • Investigated AI applications in Swiss banking and mapped KYC onboarding to distinguish activities suitable for automation from decisions requiring human judgement and regulatory oversight.
  • Designed the implementation framework subsequently developed into a working prototype through an internship with an industry partner.
  • Presented findings and prototype architecture to senior compliance professionals from three Swiss private banks, incorporating their requirements into adoption and control criteria.
  • Prepared research workshops and contributed findings to research publications and project communications.
Jul 2024 — Sep 2024
Syz Group

Human Resources Intern

Geneva
  • Reconciled and harmonised more than 300 employee records across physical documentation, digital files and the HR information system.
  • Built VBA automation for data cleansing ahead of an HR information-system migration and supported payroll and recruitment operations.
Sep 2022 — Aug 2023
Pictet Group

Private Equity Financial Controller

Geneva
  • Retained as a Private Equity Financial Controller following the internship, handling private-asset fund closings, subscriptions, unit transfers and AML/KYC documentation.
  • Identified a recurring operational bottleneck and led a process improvement initiative, building automation tooling that released more than 200 hours of work annually while reducing manual-error exposure.
  • Prepared client reports to support investor reporting and communication.
Aug 2021 — Aug 2022
Pictet Group

Private Equity Intern

Geneva
  • Supported private-asset fund closings, subscriptions and unit transfers, including documentation and contact with external counterparties.
  • Prepared client reports, reviewed operating procedures and tested tools for recurring tasks.
Jun 2020 — Jul 2021
Academic Work

Accounting Assistant

Geneva
  • Set up and managed a new accounting system for a graphic design firm, booking 500+ transactions annually (2017–2020) and working closely with the fiduciary to prepare and close yearly accounts.
May 2019 — Aug 2019
Academic Work

Administrative Assistant

Geneva
  • Coordinated delivery schedules and handled customer enquiries in French, English and German.
  • Processed delivery documents and loading lists and maintained the corresponding archives.
Jan 2019 — May 2020
Academic Work

Webmaster

Geneva
  • Built and launched a responsive e-commerce site for a sail-making company, enabling online sales and boosting digital reach with SEO optimization, driving a 55% increase in web traffic.
Jul 2017 — Jul 2017
BNP Paribas

Trainee in Legal Affairs and Litigation

Geneva
  • Managed contentious credit cases, monitored legal proceedings and digitised and organised key legal documents and decisions.
Aug 2016 — Aug 2016
BNP Paribas

Trainee in Credit Risk Control

Geneva
  • Supported corporate credit risk analysis, contributed to risk reporting and digitised credit reports.
Aug 2012 — Jul 2021
Dürst Webmaster

Founder

Gex
  • Founded and ran a digital consulting business, delivering web design, search engine optimisation and digital marketing services for a range of clients.

Voluntary roles

Jul 2024 — Present
The Global Case Competition at Harvard

Associate Director

Boston
  • Co-led a USD 80,000 competition as part of a three-person organising team, covering marketing, participation growth, logistics, speaker engagement and internal processes for 300+ teams from 100+ universities across 40+ countries.
  • The latest edition achieved 22% participation growth over the previous edition and 92% participant satisfaction.
Jul 2023 — Jul 2024
IFSA Network

Vice-Chairman of the Board

Rotterdam
  • Led legal formalisation of international operations across 20+ countries, working with notaries and advisers to revise statutes and secure cross-border recognition.
  • Restructured governance and decision-making processes across chapters.
Jul 2022 — Jul 2023
IFSA Network

Head of EMEA

Rotterdam
  • Provided strategic oversight for five EMEA chapters, harmonizing event planning and volunteer coordination to strengthen brand consistency, scale shared resources, and boost co-hosted projects by 40%.
  • Launched a shared event calendar driving 15 webinars averaging 250+ registrants each, expanding audience reach across 7+ countries and strengthening partnerships region-wide.
Aug 2021 — May 2023
IFSA Geneva

Head of Operations

Geneva
  • Led a 35-person team through four department heads and delivered more than 30 events.
  • Worked on three partnerships with financial institutions, all signed during the tenure, with corporate partnerships doubling chapter revenue year on year.
  • Reduced operating costs by 74% by designing a digital operating model that integrated project management, communications and finance systems.

Education

  • 2023–2025

    MSc in Management (Strategy, Organization & Leadership)

    HEC Lausanne

    Thesis: Intelligent Diligence: Leveraging Large Language Models to Redesign KYC in Swiss Private Banking. Built and evaluated a local prototype against human review, distinguishing document structure, extraction quality and critical errors. Graded 6.0 out of 6.

  • 2019–2023

    BSc in Economics & Management

    University of Geneva

  • 2016–2018

    Undergraduate Studies in Law

    University of Geneva

    Two years completed before transferring to Economics and Management.

Honours & publications

  • 2025

    Leader of Tomorrow

    54th St. Gallen Symposium

    Selected through the Symposium's Global Essay Competition. Beyond the Dollar: How AI Can End Financial Hegemony (2025) is a speculative policy essay on an AI-enabled monetary system.

  • Open source

    Author of KrakenR

    CRAN

    R package for accessing data from the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange API.