When the Covid pandemic upended Amazon’s operations—and the complete world in 2020—Udit Madan was tasked with an important facet job: to determine methods to purchase tons of of hundreds of masks from abroad for Amazon warehouse staff, and assist get the worker vaccine program off the bottom.
On the time, Madan was a fast-rising Amazon vp in his early 30s—possible one of many youngest out of tons of with that very same title contained in the tech large. However nonetheless he had no particular expertise in what he was being tasked with, particularly amid a stage of chaos he had not skilled earlier than.
However as Amazon colleagues have discovered, Madan has confirmed to be an adeptly quick learner. He figured it out.
That’s one key trait that explains why Amazon CEO Andy Jassy quietly promoted the 38-year-old Madan just lately to senior vp on the firm, and into the vaunted Degree 11 administration tier contained in the tech large. It’s additionally possible why, in accordance with a supply, a busy Jassy personally reached out to test in with Madan in 2022 when worldwide client CEO Dave Clark left Amazon—a shock transfer that left a lot of Clark’s direct studies shellshocked. (The supply, like others cited on this article, are recognized to Fortune, however requested to stay nameless out of worry of retribution for talking candidly concerning the internal workings of Amazon).
At the moment, working as what is actually Amazon’s chief provide chain officer and overseeing a worldwide worker base north of 1 million warehouse and logistics workers, Madan is being requested to as soon as once more orchestrate order amid chaos, because the whipsaw of the Trump administration’s China tariff dance has threatened to roil Amazon’s motion of products throughout the globe. Along with workers, Madan in the end oversees a fleet of tens of hundreds of vans, round 100 cargo airplanes, and a couple of,000-plus warehouses in additional than two dozen nations–outfitted with greater than 750,000 robots and counting. And when the “everything store’s” shipments of sneakers, sofas, or sundries are jeopardized, it’s in the end Madan’s downside to resolve.
However in a latest interview with Fortune, Madan maintained that he—and his groups—have been primarily skilled for today, due to the previous challenges of getting to function the corporate’s huge warehouse and transportation community through the cascading waves of the pandemic, and subsequent provide chain and transport port disruptions. Sure, the tariff mess has required extra frequent communication between groups below Madan’s purview however the provide chain chief feels his division is by now constructed to maintain potential crises like that of the previous two months.
“The last five years as a team helped us build a lot of resilience in how we operate,” Madan informed Fortune in an interview, “and also prompted us to invest in building more flexibility in our logistics network to handle a bit more inherent variability that we’re seeing happen quite frequently.”
Madan was referencing new trucking and warehousing companies that Amazon has launched lately. One is Amazon Warehouse and Distribution—or AWD—which permits Amazon distributors and sellers to retailer massive quantities of stock in devoted Amazon warehouses for a price, and have the tech large then distribute smaller allotments of merchandise to numerous achievement facilities as buyer demand for the merchandise picks up. (The service has served as a welcome various for some retailers that promote on Amazon and don’t need to run their very own warehouses or rent a third-party logistics enterprise to run one for them. However AWD has additionally come below hearth from some sellers who felt pressured into utilizing it merely to keep away from new Amazon charges they’d in any other case need to pay, solely to be dissatisfied by the way it ran throughout final vacation season.)
Each the brand new trucking and warehousing companies have been useful to Amazon as the corporate assisted some distributors and sellers with dashing extra stock into the U.S. earlier than a number of the new tariffs hit, Madan mentioned.
An engineer with a knack for seeing round corners
Madan grew up in Hyderabad, India, earlier than attending highschool in New Delhi, and at last shifting to the US to attend the College of Texas at Austin. Regardless of at one level contemplating changing into a health care provider, and later flirting with the concept of an funding banking profession, Madan joined Amazon as a software program engineer in 2008 after graduating with levels in pc science and economics. By 22, he had been promoted to supervisor and would quickly go on to run massive expertise organizations for Amazon’s new “last mile” supply companies—Amazon Flex, that are deliveries carried out by on a regular basis gig staff, and finally the brand new Supply Service Supplier (DSP) community, comprised of small and mid-sized supply companies typically devoted completely to ship Amazon packages.
“[W]hen I bought to Amazon, I used to be given alternative after alternative to tackle extra, and to have the ability to stretch myself,” Madan as soon as mentioned in an interview. “For every single leader I’ve worked for, it wasn’t about how long I’d been here. It wasn’t that I was 22 years old when I first got into management. None of that mattered. It was all about what I was capable of doing.”
One former colleague of Madan’s mentioned he stood out amongst friends for his capacity to go each deep into the small print, whereas additionally widening his viewpoint to know extra holistic methods and enterprise impacts – a trademark of many profitable high Amazon leaders.
“It was very impressive to me that someone with a core engineering background was able to dig into financial analysis,” the supply mentioned, “but also look around corners and have a gut sense of where the competitive landscape was going.”
By 2017, he can be tapped for a coveted function generally known as a technical advisor or “shadow”—mainly a chief of workers—for Amazon’s then head of worldwide provide chain operations, Dave Clark. A number of former executives who spoke to Fortune pointed to this function as an inflection level for Madan. Below Clark, Madan grew to become “more of a watcher and deep thinker” than his typical blunt-speaking self, in accordance with a former Amazon vp who usually interacted with Madan throughout that point.
One other former chief, mentioned after a 12 months studying below Clark, Madan “popped out a totally different executive.”
“He absorbed every second of Dave’s mentorship and leadership,” the previous Amazon exec mentioned.
Whereas Madan wouldn’t single out that one-year “shadow” function as extra essential than others in his growth as a pacesetter at Amazon, he did inform Fortune that it offered a “more concentrated” time period “where you get to both have much more diverse perspectives to inform you and it gives you an opportunity to interface with a far more varied set of really strong individuals.”
Over the previous six years, Madan has earned much more duty. In 2019, he was elevated to a vp—which is a senior government function at Amazon whereas it could be extra center administration at different corporations. Then, in late 2022, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy added Madan to the “S-team,” which consists of 29 of Amazon’s high leaders, who meet with the CEO as continuously as weekly to seek the advice of on all the pieces from essential launches and urgent crises to discussing long-term technique and progress on years-long “S-team goals.”
Earlier this 12 months, Madan was promoted once more, to senior vp—one among solely 18 on the firm. When it was introduced internally, Madan mentioned he informed his staff it’s an acknowledgement of all of their work to serve clients and higher the enterprise, whether or not by bettering supply speeds or increasing the corporate’s attain to clients residing in additional rural areas.
Madan, dressed casually in a button-down shirt, got here throughout as personable however guarded, in a video interview with Fortune.
If there’s an space the place some former senior colleagues hope Madan has improved, it’s his EQ or “emotional intelligence.” Whereas former colleagues attest that Madan was removed from a free cannon or a screamer as a supervisor, they recalled him generally struggling to attach with workers on a private stage. In a single occasion within the late 2010s, following his “shadow” function, he took over a brand new supply staff early within the new 12 months. The staff, in accordance with a former high government, was coming off of a largely profitable vacation season and Madan may have ingratiated himself together with his new direct studies by a minimum of acknowledging that success. As a substitute, he went within the different route, blindsiding them with a litany of failings he believed they have been answerable for.
That’s not essentially unusual at Amazon—many firm leaders rise towards the highest due to their IQ greater than their EQ, former insiders say. Then, once they start overseeing groups of hundreds or tons of of hundreds, growing higher EQ is pressured extra.
As for Madan himself, the chief mentioned he’s nonetheless studying throughout many areas, “and I think that’s going to be true for a very long time.”
However, he added, “I hope across almost every dimension [that] I am at least a little bit better than I was when I started here.”
With a worldwide commerce warfare nonetheless underway, he ought to have loads of alternatives to point out his progress.
Are you a present Amazon worker with ideas on this subject or a tip to share? Contact Jason Del Rey at jason.delrey@fortune.com, jasondelrey@protonmail.com, or by means of messaging apps Sign and WhatsApp at 917-655-4267. You may also contact him on LinkedIn or at @delrey on X, @jdelrey on Threads, and on Bluesky.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
