Associate Principal, Artificial Intelligence Engineering

The Options Clearing Corporation; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 128,000 - 177,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work up to 2 days remote

Tuition Reimbursement

Student Loan Repayment Assistance

Technology Stipend

Generous PTO and Parental leave

401k Employer Match

Medical, dental and vision benefits

Job summary

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is seeking an Associate Principal, AI Engineering to lead end-to-end design and delivery of agentic AI systems on Anthropic's Claude models and AWS infrastructure. You will mentor junior engineers and shape AI application and infrastructure strategies in a greenfield environment.

Responsibilities include architecting orchestration patterns, building evaluation pipelines, and implementing safeguards for AI risks, while ensuring traceability with audit logs

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field; Master's preferred.
• 4-7 years of software engineering experience, with production AI/LLM systems experience preferred.
• Experience mentoring or elevating the work of junior engineers.

Responsibilities

• Own the design and delivery of agentic AI systems end-to-end, from architecture through production deployment.
• Architect agent orchestration patterns, tool and context integration, and evaluation pipelines for reliability in a regulated environment.
• Own AI infrastructure supporting AIRE's agents and applications on AWS, and contribute to the team's growing infrastructure self-sufficiency.
• Implement technical safeguards against AI-specific risks, including hallucination detection, prompt injection defense, and output validation, in collaboration with OCC's AI Governance function.
• Build audit logging and human-in-the-loop checkpoints into agentic workflows so agent actions remain traceable and reviewable in a regulated environment.
• Mentor Associate and Senior Associate engineers through code and architecture review.
• Contribute technical point of view to the team's evolving engineering standards and practices, in partnership with the Executive Director.

Skills

Python

SQL

Distributed systems

API design

LLM-powered apps

AI security

AWS

Docker

CI/CD

Claude API

MCP

Kubernetes

Terraform

Data engineering

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Claude API

Anthropic Claude

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

AWS

Job description

Job Summary

Summary OCC's AI Research & Engineering (AIRE) team is building the company's first generation of agentic AI capabilities on Anthropic's Claude models and AWS infrastructure. The Associate Principal, AI Engineering owns the design and delivery of agentic AI systems end-to‑end, mentors junior engineers, and contributes technical judgment on AI application and/or AI infrastructure work in a largely greenfield environment.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Own the design and delivery of agentic AI systems end-to‑end, from architecture through production deployment
• Architect agent orchestration patterns, tool and context integration, and evaluation pipelines for reliability in a regulated environment
• Own AI infrastructure supporting AIRE's agents and applications on AWS, and contribute to the team's growing infrastructure self‑sufficiency
• Implement technical safeguards against AI‑specific risks, including hallucination detection, prompt injection defense, and output validation, in collaboration with OCC's AI Governance function
• Build audit logging and human-in‑the‑loop checkpoints into agentic workflows so agent actions remain traceable and reviewable in a regulated environment
• Mentor Associate and Senior Associate engineers through code and architecture review
• Contribute technical point of view to the team's evolving engineering standards and practices, in partnership with the Executive Director

Supervisory Responsibilities

None (no direct reports; mentors junior engineers without formal supervisory authority)

Qualifications

• Experience mentoring or elevating the work of junior engineers
• Demonstrated ownership of production systems from design through deployment
• Ability to work effectively in a still-forming, fast‑moving team environment

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary functions.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for sponsorship now or in the future.

Technical Skills

• Strong Python
• proficient SQL
• solid distributed systems and API design fundamentals
• Hands‑on experience building LLM‑powered applications or agentic systems
• Working knowledge of AI‑specific risk areas (prompt injection, output validation, hallucination mitigation, data privacy), or demonstrated ability to build this expertise quickly
• Cloud infrastructure experience (AWS preferred); comfort with Docker, CI/CD, and containerization fundamentals
• Direct experience with Claude, the Anthropic API, or Claude.ai/Console
• Experience designing agent orchestration or Model Context Protocol (MCP)-based integrations
• Production experience operating LLM‑powered applications or agentic systems at scale
• Kubernetes and infrastructure‑as‑code (Terraform)
• Background in financial services, derivatives, or other regulated industries
• Exposure to AI security practices such as red‑teaming or adversarial testing of model inputs and outputs
• Data engineering experience (pipelines, data modeling), particularly for candidates interested in AI infrastructure work

Education and Experience

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field; Master's preferred. 4-7 years of software engineering experience, with production AI/LLM systems experience preferred.

Benefits

• 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

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 $127,900.00 - $176,800.00

Incentive Range 8% to 15%

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.

Equal Opportunity and Diversity

The Options Clearing Corporation (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.

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 [e-mail].

OCC is an equal opportunity employer.