Strategy & Operations resume (CV): examples, bullets and keywords
An S&O resume should read like a list of business problems you solved: the problem, how you analysed it, the change you drove across teams, and the number that moved. Lead with your strongest case and its before-and-after metric, show the teams you moved without authority, and keep it to one page.
What the recruiter checks first
For Strategy & Operations roles, these decide whether you get a call.
- 01A business metric you moved, with a baseline: delivery time, onboarding time, cost per order, repeat rate, revenue against plan.
- 02Evidence of analysis: SQL, an Excel model, a pilot with a control group, a market sizing. S&O leads hire for structured thinking.
- 03Driving change through other teams: operations, sales, finance, product. Name them and say what they did differently.
- 04Fit with their business: supply, cities and unit economics for marketplaces; planning, funnels and process for SaaS and fintech.
Recruiters spend about 7.4 seconds on the first skim, and simple one-column layouts with clear headings held attention best (Ladders eye-tracking study, 2018).
Format and section order
One page under 8 years of experience. Two pages only for senior S&O leaders, and only if every bullet still shows a result.
Section order
- 1Name and contact (city, email, LinkedIn, a link to a one-page analysis or model)
- 2Two-line summary with your best solved case and its metric
- 3Experience (most recent first; each bullet: problem, analysis, change, result)
- 4Projects or cases (essential for freshers and switchers: practice take-homes, case competitions)
- 5Skills (grouped: analysis, tools, operations, AI)
- 6Education (with marks for Indian campus and early-career roles)
In India “CV” and “resume” mean the same document. Campus strategy and S&O roles expect the one-page table format with marks, positions of responsibility and extra-curriculars, so our Word template uses it. Leave out the photo, date of birth and marital status. Do not put CTC on the CV; recruiters ask for current CTC and notice period separately.
US recruiters expect one page in a simple layout with no photo or personal details. Ex-consultants should replace client names with industry and size, and say what the client did with the work.
Profile summary examples
Two lines at the top. Lead with your strongest result for this role.
Analyst moving into Strategy & Operations. Built the cost model behind a 10-week retail-bank programme and ran 6 operations workshops; the client approved the savings in its next budget. Writes SQL, builds Excel models and presents answer-first decks.
Strategy & Operations manager with 4 years in food delivery. Owns supply planning for 14 zones: on-time deliveries up from 82% to 88% with flat incentive spend. Root-causes metric moves with SQL and runs pilots with control zones.
S&O lead for [business unit], running planning and the weekly business review for [N] teams. Grew [metric] from [X] to [Y] in [N] quarters and built the operating rhythm leadership still uses. Hires and coaches associates.
S&O resume bullet bank
Swap the [brackets] for your own numbers. Each bullet: verb, what you did, measurable result.
Metrics and root-cause
- Root-caused a [X]% drop in [metric] to [cause] within [N] days using SQL cohort analysis; the fix recovered it in [N] weeks.
- Built the driver tree for [north-star metric] and the weekly dashboard leadership uses to run the business review.
- Found that [segment] drove [X]% of [problem]; a targeted fix cut it by [Y]% in [N] weeks.
Operations and process
- Mapped [process] across [N] teams and removed [N] hand-offs; median [cycle time] fell from [X] days to [Y].
- Designed a staffing model for [N] zones from hourly demand forecasts; [SLA metric] rose from [X]% to [Y]% at flat cost.
- Set up the [weekly business review / OKR cadence] for [team]; actions closed on time rose from [X]% to [Y]%.
Strategy and sizing
- Sized the [new market or category] opportunity at [range] with top-down and bottom-up models; leadership approved a [N]-city pilot.
- Wrote the business case for [initiative] with payback in [N] months; approved with [budget or team].
- Benchmarked [N] competitors on price, range and delivery promise across [N] cities; findings set the [pricing or launch] plan.
Pilots and economics
- Ran a [N]-week pilot of [change] in [N] zones against matched control zones; [metric] improved [X]% and it rolled out to [N] cities.
- Cut [cost line] per order from [X] to [Y] by [change], saving [amount] a quarter.
- Automated the [weekly report] with [SQL / n8n / scripts], saving [N] hours a week across [team].
Before and after
The same experience, rewritten so a recruiter sees the result.
Worked on strategic projects with senior stakeholders.
Built a city-level supply model for 14 zones and moved 9% of rider incentives from off-peak to peak hours; on-time deliveries rose from 82% to 88% with flat incentive spend.
Why it works: Names the problem, the analysis, the change and the result, with the cost held flat.
Responsible for improving operational efficiency.
Mapped merchant onboarding across sales, ops and risk, cut 3 hand-offs and moved document checks earlier; median time to go live fell from 11 days to 6.
Why it works: “Responsible for” describes a job. This shows the teams involved, the change and the number.
Did data analysis in Excel and SQL.
Root-caused a 7% drop in repeat orders to a delivery-fee change in two cities using SQL cohort analysis; the rollback recovered repeat rate within 3 weeks.
Why it works: Tools only matter for what they found. This links the analysis to a decision and a recovery.
Strategy & Operations resume keywords
Taken from real job posts. Use the ones you can prove, inside bullets, not as a list.
Paste your resume text. It stays in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
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Each of these can become a line on your resume and a story in the interview.
A practice take-home on their business
Pick one metric that matters to the company, find public data (reviews, annual reports, pricing pages), build a small model and write a 5-slide answer-first deck.
Proves: You can do the round that decides most S&O offers. Link it from your CV or attach it to your note.
A driver tree and dashboard
Take a public dataset (a Kaggle delivery or e-commerce dataset), break the main metric into drivers, and build a one-page dashboard with three findings.
Proves: You think in drivers and can answer your own questions with data.
An automated weekly report
Automate a recurring summary (for a club, a small business or your own job) with SQL, a spreadsheet script or n8n, with a human check before it goes out.
Proves: You remove manual work, which S&O teams value and AI now makes faster.
Free S&O resume template (Word) with a sample
One Word file in the one-page table format that Indian recruiters, placement cells and founders know, filled with a made-up example for this role. Replace every line with your own.
Education with marks, experience with a label beside every bullet, co-curriculars, extra-curriculars, positions of responsibility and skills. One page.
Opens in Microsoft Word, Google Docs and LibreOffice. Everything is real text (no text boxes or images), so applicant tracking systems can read it. We left out photo, age, gender and date of birth on purpose: recruiters do not need them.
SAMPLE: every name, company, college and number is made up. Replace each line with your own.
Kavya Menon | kavya@example.com | +91 98765 XXXXX | linkedin.com/in/example | Bengaluru
Strategy & Operations Manager, supply and city operations
| Educational Background | |||
| College / Board | Marks | Achievement | |
| B.Tech, Mechanical Engineering | Western Ghats Institute of Technology (fictional) | 8.1 / 10 | Case club lead |
| Class XII | CBSE | 92.4% | |
| Class X | CBSE | 93.6% | |
| Professional Experience | |
| Thaali ExpressManager, Strategy & Operations(2023 – present) | |
| Supply model | • Built a supply model for 14 zones and moved 9% of rider incentives to peak hours; on-time deliveries rose from 82% to 88% at flat spend. |
| Root cause | • Root-caused a 7% drop in repeat orders to a delivery-fee change in 2 cities with SQL cohorts; the rollback recovered it in 3 weeks. |
| Process | • Cut 3 hand-offs from merchant onboarding across sales, ops and risk; median go-live time fell from 11 days to 6. |
| Operating rhythm | • Set up the weekly business review for 5 city teams; actions closed on time rose from 54% to 81%. |
| Northbridge AdvisoryBusiness Analyst(2021 – 2023) | |
| Cost model | • Built the branch-level cost model for a 10-week retail-bank programme; the client approved the savings in its next budget. |
| Market sizing | • Sized a new SME lending market with top-down and bottom-up models for a fintech client’s board. |
| Kirana ConnectStrategy Intern(May '20 – Jul '20) | |
| Sizing | • Sized demand for a B2B grocery app in 3 cities; the founders used it to pick the launch city |
| Co-curricular and Projects | ||
| Take-home | • Practice case: scored 40 Pune neighbourhoods for dark stores from public data; 5-slide deck | 2025 |
| Course | • SQL for analysts and Excel financial modelling; 30 practice cases out loud | 2024 |
| Case comp. | • National finalist, operations strategy case competition | 2020 |
| Extra-Curricular Activities | ||
| Mentoring | • Mentor 8 engineers a year preparing for consulting and S&O interviews | 2024 |
| Volunteering | • Built the volunteer roster model for a city food drive serving 2,000 families | 2022 |
| Sport | • College basketball team captain; zonal runners-up | 2019 |
| Positions of Responsibility | ||
| Case club | • Lead, college case club: 20 practice sessions, 180 members | 2019–20 |
| Fest | • Operations head, college fest: ran logistics for 5,000 attendees | 2018–19 |
| Skills and Tools | ||
| Skills | SQL (cohorts, window functions) · Excel and Sheets modelling · Driver trees and root-cause analysis · Pilot design with control groups · Looker and Tableau dashboards · Analysis drafts with Claude; n8n automations | |
Cover letter and LinkedIn
Short and specific beats long and generic.
Hi [Hiring manager name], I am applying for the Strategy & Operations role on [team]. At Thaali Express I own supply planning for 14 zones. A zone-level model let us move 9% of rider incentives to peak hours, and on-time deliveries rose from 82% to 88% with no extra spend. I also cut merchant go-live time from 11 days to 6 by removing three hand-offs between sales, ops and risk. I looked at [Company] from public data and wrote a one-page analysis of [metric], with the two drivers I would check first and a small pilot to test the fix (attached). Could we find 20 minutes this week to go through it? [Your name]
Strategy & Operations | Supply planning, unit economics, root-cause analysis | SQL, Excel, pilots | Food delivery
I find the business problem that matters most and then run the fix with the teams who own it. In food delivery I rebuilt supply planning for 14 zones and lifted on-time deliveries from 82% to 88% at flat incentive spend, and cut merchant go-live time from 11 days to 6. Before that I built cost and market models as a consulting analyst. I write my own SQL and test changes against control zones before rolling them out.
Mistakes that get resumes rejected
- Consulting jargon with no outcome (“drove strategic alignment”)Fix: Write the problem, the analysis, the change and the number. Say what the client or team did with your work.
- Claiming the whole company’s growthFix: Say what you owned: “on-time deliveries in 14 zones rose from 82% to 88%”, not “grew orders 3x”.
- Tools listed with no useFix: Put tools inside bullets: “SQL cohort analysis found…”, “an Excel staffing model set…”.
- Hiding the teams you worked throughFix: Name the functions you moved (ops, sales, finance, product); S&O is hired to lead without authority.
- No sign of judgement on costFix: Show the trade-off: “at flat incentive spend”, “payback in 5 months”. S&O leads think in unit economics.
Who to ask, what they should say, a sample letter and the email to send.
Keep going
Frequently asked questions
Should my S&O resume lean towards marketplace or SaaS work?
Match the post. DoorDash’s associate post centres on onboarding, SLA tracking and root cause, so lead with operations results. Sierra’s S&O lead post centres on revenue, headcount and compensation planning, so lead with planning and models.
I am a consultant. How do I rewrite my CV for S&O?
Turn each project into a solved case: the client’s problem (by industry and size), your analysis, what the client did, and the result. Add one bullet where you ran something yourself, because S&O hires people who implement.
I am a fresher. What do I put on an S&O resume?
Marks, projects and positions of responsibility in the one-page table format Indian campus recruiters expect. Add case competitions and one practice take-home with a clear recommendation.
Should an S&O resume mention AI tools?
Yes, with a use: “automated the weekly city report with n8n, saving 4 hours a week” beats “ChatGPT” in a skills list. GoodScore’s S&O post asks for spotting “automation opportunities”.
How long do recruiters spend on a resume?
A 2018 eye-tracking study by Ladders found recruiters spend about 7.4 seconds on the first skim. Clear headings and bulleted results held attention best.