5 Community Relations Officer (Bicol Region)

Job Title: Community Relations Officer
Locations Available: Calabanga, Transmission Line (Bombon/Magarao/Pili/Naga/Milaor), Mercedes, Tinambac, Cabusao-Sipocot.
Work Set Up: Onsite
 
We are looking for a passionate Community Relations Officer to join our team of industry experts to support the development of offshore wind projects in Philippines. This role will be under a local contract and is based in Camarines Sur and occasionally requires travel to our office in Manila, Philippines.
Job description

As our new Community Relations Officer, you will play a key role in driving stakeholder engagement and community relations for our offshore wind project. Your work will be central in building trust, ensuring transparent communication, and strengthening our long-term partnerships with local communities, local government units (LGUs), national government agencies, NGOs/POs, fisherfolk groups, and other critical stakeholders. This position supports smooth project development, field operations, and sustained social acceptance.

Key responsibilities include:

• Serve as the Project’s primary local focal point in your assigned municipality/ies and barangays, representing the project and ensuring that community-facing commitments, communications, and activities are implemented effectively and on schedule.
• Build and maintain strong, respectful, and constructive relationships with LGUs (municipal and barangay), people’s organizations, NGOs, fisherfolk associations, community groups, and other local stakeholders through regular field presence, courtesy calls, community meetings, and consistent information-sharing.
• Support community engagement activities, including barangay-level IECs, fisherfolk dialogues, focus group discussions, community consultations, stakeholder mapping and profiling, and coordination of social data gathering. Help facilitate inclusive participation and ensure that community voices—especially marginalized groups—are heard and documented.
• Coordinate with local officials and community leaders to schedule, prepare, and execute project consultations and follow-up meetings; ensure agendas, materials, and logistical needs are properly arranged.
• Promote awareness and understanding of offshore wind energy by helping deliver clear, culturally appropriate, and accessible project information during engagements, and by ensuring communities receive accurate and timely updates.
• Work closely with the Environment and Permitting Manager/s, Fisheries Liaison Manager, and Livelihood Restoration Manager to support environmental and social due diligence activities. This includes coordinating with LGUs, BFAR, DENR, MENRO/MEO, MAO, MFARMCs, and other agencies and groups to ensure compliance with national/local guidelines and international lender standards.
• Assist in identifying and implementing community development, CSR, and capacity-building programs aligned with community needs, stakeholder feedback, and project objectives (e.g., livelihood training, environmental protection activities, disaster readiness initiatives, youth/education programs).
• Monitor community dynamics and anticipate emerging issues by maintaining regular field presence, reporting observations, and giving early warning to the project team about political, social, or environmental developments that may affect project implementation.
• Manage the grievance redress mechanism (GRM) at the community level by receiving complaints, documenting them systematically, ensuring fair and timely resolution, and escalating concerns to management when needed.
• Mediate conflicts and facilitate mutually beneficial solutions between the project and community stakeholders, helping maintain goodwill and avoid misunderstandings.
• Maintain a working technical understanding of the offshore wind project, including planned activities, schedules, survey works, possible impacts, and mitigation measures. Use this knowledge to communicate accurately with communities and help coordinate immediate response to community issues encountered during site activities.
• Support site operations by coordinating access arrangements, obtaining barangay or municipal clearances when needed, assisting field teams (e.g., survey crews, consultants), and ensuring that community protocols are respected.
• Document all community engagements and field activities, including attendance sheets, minutes, photos, stakeholder concerns, and feedback. Maintain organized records that contribute to the stakeholder engagement database and reporting requirements.
• Prepare reports, summaries, and field updates for internal teams to support monitoring, decision-making, and compliance with the project’s stakeholder engagement plan.

Qualifications & Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in community development, social sciences, environmental management, public relations, or a related field relevant to community-facing project work.
• 5 years of experience in community engagement, stakeholder relations, or CSR—ideally within renewable energy, infrastructure, environmental projects, or development initiatives involving coastal or rural communities.
• Requirement - Previous experience from relevant/similar role and existing relations with relevant LGU officials
• Have established networks and familiarity with key local authorities such as municipal and barangay LGUs, fisherfolk organizations, MFARMCs, local cooperatives, and other community groups in the San Miguel Bay area—allowing you to quickly build trust and local presence.
• Understand how local governance works (e.g., barangay and municipal processes, LGU endorsements, community protocols) and have basic familiarity with environmental and social safeguards, permitting processes, and community consultation requirements in large-scale infrastructure projects.
• Have hands-on field experience, especially working with coastal communities, fisherfolk groups, informal community leaders, and diverse stakeholder groups, preferably involving community meetings, surveys, and conflict resolution.
• Possess strong communication and interpersonal skills, with fluency in English, Filipino, and the local dialect (Bicol), and are able to explain technical concepts in simple and culturally appropriate terms.
• Are a resident of Camarines Sur or Camarines Norte, ideally from or near the coastal municipalities surrounding San Miguel Bay, ensuring accessibility, local insight, and consistent field presence.
• Demonstrate empathy, patience, adaptability, and resilience, all essential for managing sensitive community concerns, fostering long-term relationships, and navigating complex social and political dynamics in the field.

With over 90 years' combined experience, NES Fircroft (NES) is proud to be the world's leading engineering staffing provider spanning the Oil & Gas, Power & Renewables, Chemicals, Construction & Infrastructure, Life Sciences, Mining and Manufacturing sectors worldwide. With more than 80 offices in 45 countries, we are able to provide our clients with the engineering and technical expertise they need, wherever and whenever it is needed. We offer contractors far more than a traditional recruitment service, supporting with everything from securing visas and work permits, to providing market-leading benefits packages and accommodation, ensuring they are safely and compliantly able to support our clients.