diff --git a/.github/workflows/builds.yaml b/.github/workflows/builds.yaml
index d02be34cef..9c8543ba6d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/builds.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/builds.yaml
@@ -22,8 +22,12 @@ jobs:
     - name: Build OpenPMIx
       run: |
         cd openpmix/master
+        libevent_cppflags=$(pkg-config libevent --cflags)
+        libevent_ldflags=$(pkg-config libevent --libs | perl -pe 's/^.*(-L[^ ]+).*$/\1/')
         ./autogen.pl
-        ./configure --prefix=$RUNNER_TEMP/pmixinstall
+        ./configure --prefix=$RUNNER_TEMP/pmixinstall \
+            CPPFLAGS=$libevent_cppflags \
+            LDFLAGS=$libevent_ldflags
         make -j
         make install
     - name: Git clone PRRTE