Associate — Business Strategy & Problem Solving, MD's Office

About SAR Transport:

SAR is one of the leading Logistics companies in India in the supply chain and logistics industry on the international level. SAR Logistics is 500+ people strong and one of its kind on the national and international level in the logistics domain. The annual turnover of the group company is estimated at around INR 1200 Cr+. The organization has been working continuously to provide customer satisfaction to its clients by providing various services and offers to its loyal customers who are working in the same domain. Reliability and years of experience have made the company stand where it is now.

Job Description: As SAR scales, a class of problems keeps emerging — not cleanly owned by any one function, not solvable by analytics alone, and not always visible until they've already compounded. A margin leak in a lane that no one traced to root cause. A process that looks fine on paper but breaks every month in practice. A business unit that's growing in revenue but quietly losing money. We need someone whose only job is to go find these problems, understand them from first principles, and drive them to resolution — regardless of which function they sit in. This person has no fixed domain. They go where the business needs them most. A first-principles problem solver who works across functions Someone who diagnoses problems before solutions are prescribed A generalist who gets deep fast on unfamiliar territory Comfortable working without a job description for any given problem A thinking partner to the MD and BU heads Evaluated on problem resolution quality, not activity volume

At any given time, this person will be working on 1–3 active problem mandates, assigned in consultation with the Director. A mandate is a specific business problem — not a vague brief. Examples of what a mandate might look like:

\"Our Last-Mile GP% is 9% against a 11% target. We've been accepting this for 6 months. Go find out exactly why and what we should do about it.\" \"The ERP integration has been stalled for 6 months. The vendor says it's us, we say it's them. Get in the room, figure out what's actually blocking it, and get it moving.\" \"Three of our top 10 customers have payment terms over 90 days. Collections is chasing but nothing is moving. Go understand what's happening at the customer level and tell us what's fixable.\" \"The Chennai customs team had 3 senior resignations. Revenue is down 15% in that branch. Go spend a week there and tell us what's broken — people, process, or market.\"

Each mandate has a defined output — a diagnosis, a recommendation, or a resolution — and a clear timeline, usually 4–8 weeks. This person is not responsible for implementing everything they recommend, but they are responsible for seeing the problem through to a point where someone else can own the execution.

Responsibilities:

Problem Diagnosis Take on a defined business problem — ambiguous, cross-functional, and not previously resolved — and structure it from scratch Conduct primary research: interviews with the team doing the work, observation of processes in action, review of raw data rather than summarized reports Resist the urge to jump to solutions — spend the first phase understanding the problem correctly before forming hypotheses Identify the root cause, not just the symptom; separate what's actually wrong from what people believe is wrong

Structured Analysis Build the analytical case for your diagnosis — pull data, run calculations, validate assumptions Work with ERP data, operational reports, financial statements, and whatever else exists — including data that has never been structured before Be sceptical of existing narratives; form your own view of what the numbers actually say Know when you have enough information to reach a conclusion and when you need more — don't analyse indefinitely

Recommendation & Communication Produce a clear output for the Director and relevant stakeholders: what's wrong, why, and what should be done Your output should be direct — a recommendation with a rationale, not a list of options with no position Communicate findings to people who may not want to hear them — BU heads, functional leads, vendors — clearly and without conflict Adapt the format to the audience: a 1-pager for the Director, a working session for the team, a brief memo for the record

Resolution & Handover Stay close enough to the problem to ensure the recommended action actually starts — don't just drop a deck and move on Design the handover so the function that will own execution has what they need to succeed: a clear plan, defined ownership, and a monitoring mechanism Know when your job is done: when the root cause is resolved, or when a capable owner has taken it over with a credible plan Document your problem-solving approach so it can be repeated — you are building institutional problem-solving capability, not just solving individual problems

Qualification: Preferred Background 2–6 years in strategy roles in fast-growing companies with demonstrated analytical depth Track record of solving problems outside their comfort zone — not just executing within a defined area Prior exposure to logistics, supply chain, financial operations, or similarly asset-heavy businesses is a plus but not required A strong quantitative or business undergraduate degree; MBA from a reputed institution is valued but not mandatory

The Thinking Style We Need First principles — when faced with a problem, do not reach for a framework or a benchmark first; ask 'what is actually true here and why?' before anything else Hypothesis-driven — forms a testable point of view early, then stress-tests it against evidence rather than accumulating data without direction Comfortable being wrong — willing to change their diagnosis completely when evidence contradicts it Appropriate depth — knows the difference between analysis that changes the answer and analysis that delays the answer; stops at the right point

The Operating Style We Need Goes to the ground — will sit with the accounts executive, ride along on a delivery route, or spend a day at the desk to understand what's really happening Manages up effectively — can tell the Director 'you asked the wrong question' and explain why, respectfully No domain arrogance — approaches an operations problem with the same humility as a finance problem; does not pretend to know things they don't High tolerance for ambiguity — does not need a defined brief, a clear process, or a precedent to get started Makes things happen — when something is stuck, finds a way to unstick it; does not report the blockage and wait

What This Role Offers This is not a comfortable role. You will be given problems with no obvious solution, working with stakeholders who may not want you there, in a business that is moving fast. But if that is what you find energising, here is what you will get:

Direct exposure to the Director and group leadership from day one — your work lands on the Director's desk, not in a slide deck three levels removed Breadth that most roles take a decade to build — in 18 months you will have been inside Finance, Operations, Sales, and Systems in a meaningful way Real ownership — you will be the person who diagnosed the problem correctly and drove it to resolution; that is visible and attributable A fast track to a senior generalist role — the people who succeed in this role become strong candidates for BU leadership, COO-track positions, or senior strategy roles in 2–3 years A company that is genuinely at an inflection point — the problems are real, the stakes matter, and the decisions you inform have actual consequences