Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Timeline
Generic
Nikhil Yadav

Nikhil Yadav

Strategy | Consulting | E-Commerce
Bengaluru

Summary

Strategy leader with 12+ years of experience across consulting, start-ups, and industry, driving high-impact initiatives across India, Europe, and the U.S. Proven track record of leading cross-functional teams in ambiguous, fast-paced environments and partnering with CXOs to shape strategy, unlock growth, and deliver measurable business outcomes.

Overview

12
12
years of professional experience

Work History

Strategy & Planning Manager

Cisco India & SAARC
Bengaluru
12.2023 - Current

Lead strategic planning and transformation initiatives across India & SAARC, partnering with C-suite leadership to drive growth, market expansion, and business performance

  • Owned AI strategy and deployment, conceptualizing and launching multiple use cases that automated key workflows, delivered 30+ hours per month in efficiency gains, and improved planning accuracy.
  • Spearheaded Cisco India "Go Big" Initiative ($2B business' 2X growth) , translating goals into measurable roadmaps for Sales, Product, HR & Partner functions
  • Partnered with Cisco Singapore Strategy team to build Competitive Intelligence & Take-Out Strategy FY25-27; ~2% improvement in deal win-rate across top product lines (~$200M annual incremental)
  • Collaborated with Cisco APJC Analytics team to build dynamic Seller Performance Improvement dashboard and automated & AI driven sales insight tool
  • Awards : “Think Really Big” (2025); “Team Collaboration Across Theatre” (2025); “Business Impact of the Year” (2024)

Director, Strategy & Planning

Aakash BYJU's
Bengaluru
01.2022 - 09.2023
  • Growth strategy : Revenue growth and P&L ownership for Aakash BYJU's online education business INR - 1000 Cr. annual revenue
  • Leading B2B/B2B2C partnerships with 20 schools. Handling deal formulation, contract drafting and contract go-live; generating monthly revenue of INR 50 Cr
  • E2E lead for new product launches : Led planning and launch of multiple new products (created fresh user journeys, product mix, pricing and GTM) adding INR 300 Cr annual revenue from scratch
  • Growth marketing : Managed multiple campaigns to generate leads for sales team through optimized marketing spends; achieved 30% optimization in CPL QoQ
  • Drive CBO Office projects : Executed strategic initiatives with various department heads, brought together teams for cross - functional collaboration & managed communications with all stakeholders
  • PMO for functional team KPIs : Monitored and supervised reviews of Key Performance Indicators for 10 functional teams and drove operational efficiencies across various business functions
  • Chairing CXO meetings : Led preparation of 20 board, investor meetings & weekly/monthly business review decks for

Associate Director, Business

Unacademy
Bengaluru
12.2020 - 01.2022
  • Category Head & P&L owner for online test-prep business worth INR 500 Cr. annual revenue
  • Strong cross-team collaboration across Product, Marketing, Sales and Post-Sales to drive KPIs for business
  • Increased business revenue by 4X in through new business lines, growth partners and promotional channels
  • Led acquisition of largest CA academy India - team of 50 educators onboarded resulting in INR 80 Cr. annual revenue.

Senior Management Consultant

Roland Berger
Gurugram
08.2017 - 12.2020
  • Blue-sky diversification for major Indian conglomerate as part of Vision 2030 - lead client's product portfolio revamp
  • E-commerce strategy for a major retail co. in Indian consumer goods industry - successfully lead digital transformation for - 300 traditional physical stores across India
  • Growth strategy for a major automotive products manufacturer for passenger cars, utility vehicles, commercial vehicles and specialty vehicles in India and Germany
  • Building relationships with a client centric approach & stakeholder management, leading end to end delivery for various client to achieve strategic plans and client growth
  • Market entry strategy and GTM for a Chinese truck manufacturer into Indian market with focus on heavy duty trucks

Senior Networking Consulting Engineer

Cisco Systems
Bengaluru
07.2012 - 05.2015

Key member of Cisco Advanced Services - provided consulting services to 15 global customers with focus on Cisco enterprise wireless, mobility technologies and quality controls

  • Lead Engineer, modernized 6/10 major sites across India; network of a state-owned telecom company
  • Core member, Process Improvement Team; 30% increase in efficiency by streamlining of requests
  • Youngest member of Cisco Campus Recruitment team, coach to 50 potential candidates
  • Cross collaboration with 20 engagement managers, Cisco product sales teams and product managers for project execution
  • Excellent communicator with consistent strategic thinking and new ideas added to projects
  • CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and CCNP (Cisco Certified Network professional) holder

Education

MBA - General Management

IIM Bangalore
Bengaluru, India
04.2001 -

B.Tech - Computer Science

IIIT Hyderabad
Hyderabad
04.2001 -

Skills

  • Cross-functional collaboration
  • Strategic planning
  • Team leadership
  • Operations management
  • Sales strategies
  • Business growth initiatives
  • Strategic partnerships

Timeline

Strategy & Planning Manager

Cisco India & SAARC
12.2023 - Current

Director, Strategy & Planning

Aakash BYJU's
01.2022 - 09.2023

Associate Director, Business

Unacademy
12.2020 - 01.2022

Senior Management Consultant

Roland Berger
08.2017 - 12.2020

Senior Networking Consulting Engineer

Cisco Systems
07.2012 - 05.2015

MBA - General Management

IIM Bangalore
04.2001 -

B.Tech - Computer Science

IIIT Hyderabad
04.2001 -
Nikhil YadavStrategy | Consulting | E-Commerce