*****THIS POSITION IS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR VISA SPONSORSHIP***** To be considered for this position, applications and resumes are accepted only through our careers site by directly applying to the posted job. We do not accept unsolicited resumes or sales solicitations from staffing agencies. Any OCC employee wishing to submit a referral must do so through their Workday account. Any resume submitted outside of an active job posting will not be considered for employment. What You’ll Do OCC is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization—the infrastructure that settles every U.S. options trade. We've recently formed a dedicated AI Research & Engineering team, and we're looking for a Principal AI Engineer to serve as its technical anchor. This is a senior individual contributor role by design. You won't manage people; you'll do the work, set the technical standard, and lead through expertise. You'll be the primary driver of OCC's agentic AI capabilities, architecting and building the systems that connect AI agents to real enterprise workflows in one of the most consequential and carefully regulated environments in financial markets. You'll shape OCC's AI roadmap alongside the Executive Director of AI Engineering, mentor junior engineers, and have time for experimentation with frontier tools. Our team works directly with AWS and Anthropic, accessing Claude models through both. If you're a seasoned engineer who wants to stay hands-on, lead through technical excellence, and build agentic AI systems that matter this role was written for you. Primary
Duties
and
Responsibilities
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each primary duty satisfactorily. Partner with the Executive Director of AI Engineering to define and execute OCC's AI technical roadmap, translating organizational priorities into concrete architectural decisions Lead OCC's agentic AI efforts: architect, build, and operate systems that connect AI agents to internal systems, data pipelines, and business workflows Leverage OCC's direct relationships with AWS and Anthropic to evaluate and adopt new model capabilities and tooling as they become available Build and ship production AI applications on AWS using Claude and related Anthropic tooling, maintaining high standards for reliability, security, and auditability Architect scalable systems that integrate LLMs and AI agents into OCC's internal systems, operational workflows, and business processes, owning decisions from design through production deployment Serve as the primary technical mentor for junior engineers: conducting code and architecture reviews, modeling engineering best practices, and raising the team's overall technical level (no direct reports) Define and enforce AI safety standards appropriate for a regulated SIFMU environment, including hallucination detection, output validation, bias assessment, and audit trails that satisfy SEC and CFTC oversight expectations Establish responsible AI practices and safety guardrails for LLM applications operating on sensitive financial data Navigate OCC's change management and security review processes when deploying AI systems into production Evaluate emerging AI technologies and provide concrete, risk-aware recommendations on adoption Supervisory
Responsibilities
None
Qualifications
The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary functions. Required
Experience
mentoring and elevating junior engineers Preferred Exceptional ability to explain complex technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders Background in financial market infrastructure, derivatives, or similarly regulated industries Technical Skills: Required Expert-level Python; proficient in SQL Deep system design expertise: distributed systems, microservices, event-driven architectures, APIs, and MCP servers Hands-on experience with data engineering: pipelines, transformation, and data modeling AWS experience; comfort with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines Strong production AI/LLM experience, or demonstrated hands-on passion for the space with the engineering depth to ramp quickly Strong working knowledge of AI risk vectors: hallucinations, prompt injection, bias, data privacy, and output validation Preferred Production experience building and operating LLM-powered applications
Experience
designing and operating agentic AI systems in enterprise environments
Experience
with context engineering strategies including RAG, prompt architecture, and retrieval pipeline design Familiarity with frontier models including Claude, GPT, and Gemini, and hands-on experimentation with emerging tools Hands-on experience with Anthropic's tooling and APIs, including the Claude API, Claude.ai, or the Anthropic Console
Experience
connecting AI agents to enterprise systems and workflows Infrastructure as code (Terraform)
Education
and/or
Experience
Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science or a related technical field 10+ years of software engineering and systems architecture experience, with demonstrated technical leadership 5+ years as a senior individual contributor on complex, high-stakes production systems Certificates or Licenses: None required
About Us
The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization. Founded in 1973, OCC is dedicated to promoting stability and market integrity by delivering clearing and settlement services for options, futures and securities lending transactions. As a Systemically Important Financial Market Utility (SIFMU), OCC operates under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. OCC has more than 100 clearing members and provides central counterparty (CCP) clearing and settlement services to 19 exchanges and trading platforms. More information about OCC is available at www.theocc.com.
Benefits
A highly collaborative and supportive environment developed to encourage work-life balance and employee wellness. Some of these components include: A hybrid work environment, up to 2 days per week of remote work Tuition Reimbursement to support your continued education Student Loan Repayment Assistance Technology Stipend allowing you to use the device of your choice to connect to our network while working remotely Generous PTO and Parental leave 401k Employer Match Competitive health benefits including medical, dental and vision Visit https://www.theocc.com/careers/thriving-together for more information. Compensation The salary range listed for any given position is exclusive of fringe benefits and potential bonuses. If hired at OCC, your final base salary compensation will be determined by factors such as skills, experience and/or education. In addition, we believe in the importance of pay equity and consider internal equity of our current team members as part of any final offer. We typically do not hire at the maximum of the range in order to allow for future and continued salary growth. We also offer a substantial benefits package as noted on www.theocc.com/careers All employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus. Discretionary bonuses are based on various factors, including, but not limited to, company and individual performance and are not guaranteed. Salary Range $182,100.00 - $248,700.00 Incentive Range 23% to 30% This position is eligible for an annual discretionary incentive compensation award, for which the target range is listed above (see Incentive Range). The amount of such award, if any, will be based on various factors, including without limitation, both individual and company performance. Step 1 When you find a position you're interested in, click the 'Apply' button. Please complete the application and attach your resume. Step 2 You will receive an email notification to confirm that we've received your application. Step 3 If you are called in for an interview, a representative from OCC will contact you to set up a date, time, and location. For more information about OCC, please click here. OCC is an Equal Opportunity Employer Protect yourself from recruitment scams Employers are seeing an increase in activity involving individuals falsely claiming to represent our company. These scams often include fake job offers, interviews or requests for financial and personal information. We take these matters seriously and want to ensure you stay informed and protected throughout your job search. Please keep the following in mind: OCC will never ask for payment or request personal banking information at any stage of the recruitment or career process. All official recruitment communications will come from a verified OCC email address ending in @theocc.com or the specific e-mail address of theocc@myworkday.com. Be cautious of messages from personal or non-company email addresses. Do not engage with or respond to suspicious emails or messages. If you are unsure about the legitimacy of a communication, verify the sender's email address and contact us directly. Hover over the sender's email address and confirm it ends with @theocc.com or myworkday.com and be alert for misspellings or added words. If you receive a suspicious email, text or phone call using OCC's name, please forward it to talentacquisition@theocc.com. Interviews OCC does not utilize video chat rooms (that is, Google Hangouts) to conduct interviews. OCC will only use our approved Zoom video interview platform. Your vigilance helps protect you and supports the integrity of our hiring process. Recognizing fraudulent communications Phishing emails often: Do not address you by name. Create a sense of urgency to prompt quick action. Contain links that lead to suspicious websites or malicious attachments. Include grammatical or spelling errors. A highly collaborative and supportive environment developed to encourage work-life balance and employee wellness. Some of these components include: A hybrid work environment, up to 2 days per week of remote work Tuition Reimbursement to support your continued education Student Loan Repayment Assistance Technology Stipend allowing you to use the device of your choice to connect to our network while working remotely Generous PTO and Parental leave Competitive health benefits including medical, dental and vision OCC is an Equal Opportunity Employer OCC is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. OCC provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, age, marital status, religion, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Numerous studies have shown that people from certain groups are less likely than others to apply to jobs if they believe they do not meet 100% of the requirements. We encourage everyone to review our open positions and apply if you think your experience may be a match, even if you do not meet all of the qualifications. Your perspective may be an element we need to continue building innovative solutions to support the markets and market participants we serve. If you need a disability related accommodation for any part of the application process, please email talentacquisition@theocc.com. The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization. Founded in 1973, OCC is dedicated to promoting stability and market integrity by delivering clearing and settlement services for options, futures and securities lending transactions. As a Systemically Important Financial Market Utility (SIFMU), OCC operates under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. OCC has more than 100 clearing members and provides central counterparty (CCP) clearing and settlement services to 19 exchanges and trading platforms. More information about OCC is available at www.theocc.com. A highly collaborative and supportive environment developed to encourage work-life balance and employee wellness. Some of these components include: A hybrid work environment, up to 2 days per week of remote work Tuition Reimbursement to support your continued education Student Loan Repayment Assistance Technology Stipend allowing you to use the device of your choice to connect to our network while working remotely Generous PTO and Parental leave 401k Employer Match Competitive health benefits including medical, dental and vision Visit https://www.theocc.com/careers/thriving-together for more information. The salary range listed for any given position is exclusive of fringe benefits and potential bonuses. If hired at OCC, your final base salary compensation will be determined by factors such as skills, experience and/or education. In addition, we believe in the importance of pay equity and consider internal equity of our current team members as part of any final offer. We typically do not hire at the maximum of the range in order to allow for future and continued salary growth. We also offer a substantial benefits package as noted on www.theocc.com/careers All employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus. Discretionary bonuses are based on various factors, including, but not limited to, company and individual performance and are not guaranteed.