Senior Director, Employee Experience & People Operations

Howard Energy Partners • San Antonio, TX

3d

About The Position

The Senior Director, Employee Experience & People Operations exists to help work get done by supporting leaders, strengthening how we attract and retain talent, and improving how employees experience day-to-day work across our operations. This role is embedded in the business and grounded in the realities of a midstream energy company. It is not a traditional HR role. Instead, the Employee Experience Leader partners closely with operations and leadership to solve real problems related to recruitment, retention, and employee support, ensuring our workforce is strong, capable, and aligned with how work actually happens. This leader brings a service mindset and sound judgment, approaching challenges with curiosity and a ‘how can we help?’ orientation rather than defaulting to rigid rules or disconnected processes. This position is for someone who understands how to problem solve and believes we can always find a way to “yes".

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience supporting leaders with hiring, performance, and employee related decisions in real world operating environments, not just designing programs or policies.
• Proven ability to exercise sound judgment in situations with competing priorities, incomplete information, or no clear precedent.
• Comfortable operating without rigid playbooks; able to balance consistency with flexibility and empathy with accountability.
• Experience partnering across functions such as operations, HR, safety, talent acquisition, or learning and development to solve practical workforce challenges.
• Exceptional listening, communication, and follow through skills; trusted with sensitive employee and leadership matters.
• High comfort level spending time in the field, with operating teams, and in day-to-day business realities—not just corporate settings.
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field required; equivalent experience considered.
• 8+ years of experience in operations, business leadership, people leadership, or a closely related field; experience in energy, infrastructure, industrial, or field-based environments preferred.

Nice To Haves

• Industry-recognized credentials in HR, people operations, or related disciplines a plus

Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted partner to leaders on hiring, onboarding, performance, development, and employee related decisions, offering practical guidance grounded in operational realities.
• Support leaders in navigating complex or sensitive people situations, helping them balance empathy, accountability, and business needs.
• Help leaders have clear, direct, and constructive conversations, using judgment rather than defaulting to policy or escalation.
• Reinforce consistent expectations across teams while allowing practical, situation-based decision-making, focused on what will best serve the team, the employee, and the company.
• Partner with leaders to clarify role expectations, assess candidate fit, and make sound hiring decisions aligned with real job demands, not just job descriptions.
• Identify friction points in recruiting and onboarding and work cross functionally to improve the candidate and new hire experience.
• Work with HEP leaders to support a pipeline of recruitment opportunities, understanding the needs of the company as we grow.
• Act as an early point of support for employee concerns, helping address issues before they escalate into formal complaints or disengagement.
• Help leaders resolve employee experience challenges in ways that are fair, consistent, and aligned with company values, without overreliance on process or policy.
• Monitor patterns and themes impacting employee experience across the organization and surface insights to leadership.
• Encourage and support meaningful, day-to-day recognition and appreciation practices that reinforce contributions and company values.
• Spend time in the field and with operating teams understanding how work actually happens and where people could use more support.
• Partner closely with Comms and Learning & Development to ensure solutions are practical, timely, and aligned with organizational needs.
• Help translate organizational expectations into clear, actionable guidance for leaders and employees.
• Support the annual employee survey process by translating results into clear, actionable insights for leadership—helping prioritize actions aligned with business needs.
• Develop and maintain ongoing listening approaches (e.g., leader roundtables, focused discussions, informal channels) to gather candid employee feedback beyond annual surveys.
• Partner with leaders to interpret feedback, identify root causes, and determine practical responses that improve day to day employee experience.
• Track recurring themes and patterns, ensuring employees see visible follow through where feedback is acted upon.
• Identify emerging risks related to morale, workload, leadership capability, or engagement early and elevate insights as needed.
• Identify opportunities to improve consistency and clarity in how employees experience hiring, onboarding, development, and support.
• Contribute to the evolution of employee experience and leadership practices as the organization grows, ensuring systems remain supportive rather than bureaucratic.

Benefits

• Howard Energy Partners is an equal opportunity employer. If you need additional information, have questions, or need accommodations, please reach out to the Human Resources department at [email protected].

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior