Lt Cdr (Retd), Indian Navy · Senior Product Manager

Mani Selvaraj

Building products at Amazon that scale globally — from GenAI-powered portals to traceability systems for Whole Foods. Former Naval Officer. Indiana Kelley MBA.

About

From naval bridges to product roadmaps

I'm a Senior Product Manager at Amazon's Transparency team, where I lead GenAI-powered self-service products and a supply-chain traceability system for Amazon Grocery & Whole Foods.

Before tech, I spent 10 years as an officer in the Indian Navy — leading crews, managing complex logistics, and running operations aboard warships. That foundation shapes how I approach ambiguity, prioritize ruthlessly, and build teams that deliver.

I hold an MBA from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business (Supply Chain, Business Analytics & Product Management) and a Business Management certificate from IIM Ahmedabad.

15+

Years of leadership

10yr

Indian Navy officer

200+

Brands researched

300K

Products traced

Accomplishments

  • IEEE Senior Member & Full Member in Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Honor Society)
  • Published 6+ research papers in international journals and conferences, and completed 15+ peer reviews of scholarly articles in international journals
  • Mentored startups registered with the Botswana Innovation Hub
  • IEEE Senior Member Panelist reviewing senior member applications (2024)
  • Recipient of Commendation by The Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Indian Navy (2019)
  • Commissioned in the Indian Navy by the President of India (2010)
  • Gold Medalist — Best Outstanding Student in overall order of merit, undergraduate class

Experience

Where I've worked

Senior Product Manager

Amazon · Seattle, WA

Dec 2023 – Present
  • Spearheaded a GenAI-powered assistant in the Transparency Portal to guide brands through self-service workflows, reducing customer-service contacts by 20% and improving SLA compliance by 30%
  • Led end-to-end development of a self-service distributor management feature for a brand protection platform — a unified system of record for 80K+ brands, cutting a 48-hour manual process to 2 minutes and eliminating ~$25.9MM in annual inventory loss risk
  • Owned portal self-service strategy & roadmap across IN, CN, EU teams — estimating >30% brand productivity gain and >25% FTE optimization
  • Owned Traceability product strategy, partnering with 5 orgs to build a traceability system for Amazon Grocery & Whole Foods enabling regulatory compliance for ~300K products
  • Led UX research — interviews & surveys with 200+ brands across CN, IN, EU — driving data-driven feature prioritization and >20% CX uplift

Co-Founder

Military to MBA · India

Jan 2021 – 2024
  • Education consultancy helping transitioning Indian veterans pursue advanced degrees
  • Led a team of peers, provided 100+ free 1:1 consultations, and helped veterans earn MBA admits from top universities with >$500,000 in scholarships

Operations Manager

Chewy · Dayton, OH

Jul 2023 – Dec 2023
  • Identified and resolved unauthorized, unsafe, or ineffective practices, improving safety by 10% through new protocols and training in Multis Picking
  • Enhanced operations efficiency by 12% by optimizing workflows and implementing best practices

Founder & Managing Director

GreenFoods Factory · India

2020 – 2023
  • Launched own brand of tapioca sago pearls, selling ~100 tonnes annually to B2C customers across India (₹60/kg)
  • Built B2B export channel to Canada, shipping ~100 tonnes annually in international export orders
  • Implemented automation in roasting process — 20% quality improvement, 17% productivity increase
  • Standardized supply chain with hub-and-spoke distribution, reducing shipment costs and delivery time by 30%

Leadership Development Intern — Corporate Strategy

Mercury Marine (Brunswick Corporation) · Fond du Lac, WI

Jun 2022 – Aug 2022
  • Developed go-to-market strategy for an Electric Outboard Engine in a new geography, projecting $2.5M revenue in launch year
  • Formulated vertical integration strategy for hydraulic components, reducing supplier concentration risk by 50%

Associate Vice President — Corporate & Investment Banking

JP Morgan Chase & Co. · India

Oct 2020 – Jul 2021
  • Upgraded risk analysis model via user interviews and KPI optimization, improving process efficiency by 12%
  • Developed analyst onboarding mentoring program, reducing training duration by 15%

Officer-in-Charge — Head of 4 Sub-Units, Naval Base (INS Angre)

Indian Navy · India

Jan 2010 – Dec 2019
  • Spearheaded development of sailor residences — leadership buy-in, vendor selection, and time/quality oversight — reducing accommodation shortage by 25%
  • Led a 100-person team organizing a major naval event, optimizing layouts and integrating past feedback to reduce costs by 11%
  • Modified naval base staffing strategy by segmenting job profiles, reducing workforce shortage by 10% and increasing productivity by 20%

Head of Operations — INS Agray

Indian Navy · India

Jul 2014 – Feb 2016
  • Executed 100+ naval operations with an 80-member crew, improving ship performance by 30% through audit prioritization

Executive Officer (Second-in-Command) — IN Ships

Indian Navy · India

Jun 2012 – Jun 2014
  • Developed new passage plans for the largest tanker warship during the Indo-Brazilian Maritime Exercise, improving fuel conservation by 15%

Education

Academic background

May 2023

MBA — Supply Chain, Business Analytics & Product Management (STEM)

Indiana University, Kelley School of Business

Bloomington, IN

VP Supply Chain Club · VP Veterans Club · Merit Fellowship, Terry Hershberger Scholarship, William Lockwood Jr. Fellowship

Mar 2020

Armed Forces Program in Business Management

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

Gujarat, India

Jan 2010

Naval Orientation Course

Indian Naval Academy, Indian Navy

Ezhimala, India

Jun 2008

Bachelor of Technology — Textile Technology

Anna University

Tamil Nadu, India

Gold Medalist — Best Outstanding Student in overall order of merit

Skills

What I bring to the table

Product Management

Product StrategyRoadmappingOKRs & KPIsUser ResearchA/B TestingPRDsGo-to-Market

Technical & AI

GenAI / LLMsPrompt EngineeringSupply Chain SystemsData AnalysisSQL (basics)Jira & Confluence

Operations & Strategy

Operations ManagementProcess OptimizationLean / Six SigmaVendor ManagementP&L OwnershipStakeholder Management

Leadership

Cross-functional TeamsExecutive CommunicationMentorshipAgile / ScrumCrisis ManagementNaval Leadership

Contact

Let's connect

I'm open to new opportunities — especially PM roles in Canada or roles that leverage my background in AI products, operations, and supply chain. Drop me a line.

Canadian Permanent Resident · Based in the U.S. · Open to relocation across Canada