Naveen Bansal

About Naveen Bansal

Began my career in Accounts Payable, immersed in the core building blocks of procurement — invoice processing, reconciliations, vendor engagement, and payment workflows. That hands-on experience laid the foundation for the procurement leader I am today.Over the past 10 years, I’ve grown into roles that span operations leadership, contract management, stakeholder engagement, and procurement strategy — with a consistent focus on process excellence and business value creation.Today, I’m a Lead in the Buy Team at Rio Tinto, leading procurement operations across Australia and APAC. I manage a team of 25+ professionals, drive cross-functional collaboration, and lead initiatives that streamline PO automation, enhance supplier engagement, and improve overall procurement governance.A few milestones that shaped my journey: Spearheaded the Manage Contract Confirmation tool for contract owners, improving end-to-end compliance and visibility. Played a key role in Project Jasper, transitioning buy operations in-house and increasing P2P efficiency by over 40%. Contributed to ERP implementation and UAT efforts, supporting the centralization of payments and automating complex workflows (including BOT integration). Ensured successful delivery of SLAs for POT (Payments On Time), OTD (On Time Delivery) & STP (Straight Through Payments) by creating new control frameworks.My areas of strength include:• P2P Lifecycle Management• Contract & Vendor Governance• ERP Tools (SAP, Oracle), Analytics (Power BI)• Intercompany Billing, AP GL Reconciliation, and Accruals• Cross-Regional Team Leadership and TrainingWhat keeps me going is the blend of people, process, and purpose. Whether it\'s solving a recurring PO issue or mentoring a new team member, I see every detail as part of a bigger story — one where procurement plays a pivotal role in business transformation.I welcome conversations on sourcing strategy, supplier innovation, and operational excellence — feel free to connect or reach out!

Experience

1. Procurement Lead

   Rio Tinto

   Jan 2025 — Present

   Lead end-to-end Buy Operations for Western Australia region, managing a team of 25 procurement professionals.• Spearheaded deployment of the Manage Contract Confirmation Application, driving contract governance and owner accountability.• Improved PO processing lead time and buyer response SLAs through analytics-led process re-engineering.• Implemented stakeholder management frameworks to enhance collaboration across supply chain and commercial teams.• Achieved a 25% increase in contract renewals through proactive supplier engagement and automation of ERP tools.

Education

• Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad

  Postgraduate Degree