Community Relations & Employee Engagement Lead

Occidental Petroleum•Houston, TX

10h•Onsite

About The Position

Oxy produces, markets, and transports oil and natural gas to maximize value and provide resources fundamental to life. The company leverages its global leadership in carbon management to advance lower-carbon technologies and products. Headquartered in Houston, Oxy primarily operates in the United States, Middle East and North Africa. Oxy strives to attract and retain talented employees by investing in their professional development and providing rewarding opportunities for personal growth. Our goal is to meet the highest employer standards by ensuring the health and safety of our employees, protecting the environment and positively impacting our communities where we do business. We are looking for a Community Relations & Employee Engagement Lead to support Houston-area employee engagement end-to-end. Partnering closely with the Manager, Community Relations & Employee Engagement, this individual will translate our community partnerships into meaningful employee experiences—activating partner benefits and building a thoughtful, year-round volunteer program that connects our people to the city we call home. They will lead event planning and execution, oversee the Tickets Coordinator, and serve as the primary driver of seamless, high-quality delivery across key partnerships and internal initiatives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or a related field — or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
10+ years of experience in employee engagement, community relations, event management, corporate partnerships, or a closely related field.
Demonstrated experience managing community partnerships, sponsorship activations, or volunteer programs at scale.
Strong analytical skills, including comfort with Excel and the ability to build reporting that informs decisions.
Proven project and program management skills — running multiple initiatives in parallel with minimal oversight.
Experience managing vendors, contractors, and cross-functional partners.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Experience in a large corporate environment preferred; oil & gas experience a plus but not required.

Nice To Haves

Analytically minded. You don’t just run programs — you measure them. You’re comfortable in spreadsheets, you know what a good metric looks like, and you can turn participation data and partner performance into a story leadership will actually read.
Exceptionally organized. You keep multiple workstreams, partners, and stakeholders moving in parallel without dropping details. Trackers, timelines, and follow-through are second nature.
Self-directed. Given a goal and the guardrails, you figure out the how. You ask sharp questions, make decisions, and bring solutions rather than open-ended problems.
Creative and intentional. You think about the employee experience the way a designer does — with taste, purpose, and attention to how it actually feels to participate. You bring new ideas to the table and are not satisfied with “because that’s how we’ve always done it.”
Thoughtful. You understand that this work is about people. You listen, you anticipate, and you build programs that reflect what our employees and community partners actually value.
A strong communicator. You write clearly, you present confidently, and you adapt your style from a quick Teams message to a leadership briefing without missing a beat.
Ownership Mindset: Takes full accountability for outcomes, not just activities.
Analytical Rigor: Uses data to prioritize, measure, and tell the story of what’s working.
Creative Execution: Designs experiences that are memorable, on-brand, and intentional.
Strategic Thinking: Connects day-to-day programming to broader engagement and business goals.
Relationship Management: Builds strong internal and external partnerships across every level of the organization.
Executive Presence: Engages confidently with senior leaders and high-profile community partners.

Responsibilities

Source volunteer opportunities by partnering with nonprofit and community organizations, building a calendar that encourages broad employee participation
Design and execute meaningful employee experiences that go beyond events—creating moments that strengthen culture and deepen connection to the Houston community
Serve as the primary resource for Houston-area employees on volunteer and engagement opportunities, providing guidance and making participation seamless
Continuously refine programming based on employee feedback, participation data, and overall effectiveness
Execute and manage the benefits associated with Houston community partnerships, ensuring all deliverables are fulfilled and value is maximized
Oversee ticket distribution, allocation, and tracking for Houston partnerships, including management of the Tickets Coordinator, with scalable and efficient systems
Develop reporting and analysis to evaluate partnership performance, including participation, engagement, and ROI
Lead internal promotion of volunteer and engagement opportunities in partnership with Internal Communications to drive awareness and participation
Create clear, concise communications and guidance materials to help employees easily access and engage with available opportunities
Represent the program to employees at all levels with professionalism, clarity, and approachability
Partner with the Manager, Community Relations & Employee Engagement to translate strategy into actionable plans, timelines, and outcomes
Build and maintain trackers, dashboards, and recap reports to measure impact, including participation rates, partner ROI, employee sentiment, and volunteer hours
Manage pre-approval processes, including budgets, contracts, vendor agreements, and internal approvals
Capture and apply lessons learned from each initiative to continuously improve future programming