From Seasonal Hire To Vice President At 34: Apoorva Prasad’s Amazon Journey

When customers click "order" on Amazon, most never stop to think about what’s going on behind the scenes to get the diapers or the birthday present to their door. That seamless experience is no accident — it is powered by a global network operating at massive scale, moving goods from factory floors around the world to customers’ doors. As Vice President of Global Logistics, Prasad manages one of the most complex parts of this system, overseeing cross-border logistics and domestic inbound transportation. She leads a team of over 2,000 people across 13 countries and 81 cities, working at the intersection of operations, technology, and product to optimize how goods move into and across Amazon’s network. Her role sits at the center of a constantly evolving global landscape, navigating ongoing disruptions across trade, capacity, and global supply networks while ensuring goods continue to move reliably at scale. Prasad’s path to this position reflects a rare breadth of experience with diverse expertise spanning strategy, operations, product and tech across the end-to-end supply chain. Her journey is not just a story of career growth; it is a story of what becomes possible when you dive headfirst into challenging problems, trust your instincts, and build teams that treat diversity of background and perspective as a strategic advantage.

Raised in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, Prasad grew up in a household where ambition and achievement were celebrated, surrounded by strong working women who made success feel both normal and attainable. There was space to explore, try new things and find her own path, building confidence and fostering independence early on. She followed her brother to Arizona State University in the U.S., choosing to study business, an unconventional path at the time within her circle in India, where science and engineering were more common. Drawn to the business school’s strength in supply chain, she pursued a double major in Supply Chain Management and Finance, although initially, she had her sights set on investment banking. As an international student, options can often be limited, and your first job tends to pick you — for Prasad, that meant joining Amazon in 2011 as a seasonal contractor on Black Friday, one of the busiest days of the year. “I vividly remember walking into a packed conference room buzzing with people obsessing over customer orders,” she recalls. “It was fast, vibrant, and operating at a scale I had never seen before – I was blown away”.

What began as a temporary role evolved into a standout career trajectory, shaped by a pattern of stepping into ambiguous problem spaces and building and scaling new capabilities. Over the years, Prasad took on a range of high-impact roles across Amazon’s network, helping build foundational transportation systems, redesign freight flows to unlock significant cost efficiencies, and expand capabilities that improved the customer and shipper experience, including more recent initiatives like Supply Chain by Amazon. In 2022, she was selected to serve as Technical Advisor to Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations — a coveted role often referred to as a senior leader’s “shadow,” effectively acting as a chief of staff and trusted sounding board. The position has long been viewed inside Amazon as an inflection point and launchpad for larger leadership roles. Following this experience, she took on the Global Logistics organization, stepping into a significantly broader and more complex role across geographies, businesses, and operating teams.

When asked to share advice on how to grow into these increasingly complex roles, Prasad is direct: “Be really good at what you do. Don’t shrink yourself to fit into the room — bring your full voice, your ideas, and your ambition. And don’t get comfortable. Take risks, seek out new experiences, and if you’re not learning, it’s time to change something.” Beyond her work across Amazon’s network, Prasad has also been an advocate for building more inclusive talent pathways. In 2017, she co-founded Diversity in Operations, one of the earliest grassroots initiatives of its kind within the organization, bringing together senior leaders to create greater structure, visibility, and accountability in how talent is developed and advanced.

Apoorva’s career reflects a different approach to growth, driven by a willingness to step into ambiguity, take on increasingly complex challenges, and build at scale. From a seasonal hire on Black Friday to leading one of Amazon’s most complex global organizations today, her trajectory underscores what is possible when capability, curiosity, and conviction come together.