Lead Associate Principal, AI Solutions

The Options Clearing Corporation; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 123,000 - 168,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Tuition reimbursement

Student loan repayment assistance

Technology stipend

Generous PTO and parental leave

401k employer match

Competitive health benefits including

Job summary

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) seeks an AI Solutions Lead to bridge business functions and the AI transformation roadmap. You will embed within functions to identify opportunities, define use cases, and drive adoption of AI-native operating models with governance and vendor evaluations.

You will own end-to-end delivery, from problem definition through to adoption, collaborating with CTO teams and business leaders to ensure feasible, compliant, and impactful AI outcomes across post-trade

Qualifications

• Deep understanding of financial services or capital markets operations; experience in post‑trade or capital markets infrastructure preferred.
• Track record of operating at the intersection of business strategy and technical delivery; has produced specs that engineers built from.
• Experience identifying technology opportunities inside a business and translating them into actionable requirements.
• Familiarity with modern AI architectures and model risk governance in regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Embed with business functions to identify AI opportunities and sequence initiatives by impact, feasibility, and readiness.
• Own full lifecycle of use cases from problem definition to post‑launch adoption and define done criteria.
• Lead technical evaluation and advisory activities, including build-vs-buy analyses for AI platforms.
• Support citizen-led AI development with governance guardrails and clear boundaries for central engineering involvement.
• Maintain risk flags and portfolio status; communicate progress to leadership and stakeholders.
• Collaborate with CTO engineering teams to ensure feasible architectures and alignment with ORM guidelines.

Skills

AI opportunity assessment

Business-IT alignment

Roadmap planning

Adoption planning

Vendor evaluation

Data pipeline understanding

Tools

Power BI

Tableau

Jira

Notion

Job description

What You’ll Do

This role is OCC’s primary interface between the business and its AI transformation agenda. Rather than waiting for use cases to arrive, the AI Solutions Lead embeds with assigned business functions to understand how work gets done, identify where AI creates meaningful opportunity, and build the roadmap that sequences those opportunities from quick wins through to AI‑native operating models. The role then owns each initiative from problem definition through to adoption, bringing enough technical depth to assess feasibility, evaluate vendors, and support contained citizen‑led development without duplicating the engineering capability that sits in the CTO’s organization.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• AI Opportunity Identification & Transformation Roadmap Embed with assigned business functions to develop a grounded understanding of how workflows, where decisions are made, and where AI can create the most meaningful change in how the organization operates. Identify AI opportunities that redesign how work gets done rather than layer automation on top of existing processes; distinguish between use cases that deliver incremental improvement and those that change the operating model. Build and maintain the AI transformation roadmap for assigned functions: sequencing initiatives by impact, feasibility, and readiness, from immediate quick wins through to longer‑term AI‑native transformation. Partner with functional leaders to build a shared, realistic view of what AI‑native operations look like in their area and what it takes to get there.
• Use Case Delivery Own the full lifecycle of assigned use cases: problem definition, stakeholder requirements, scoping, acceptance criteria, delivery oversight, and post‑launch adoption. Translate business problems into technically grounded requirements precise enough that the CTO’s engineering team can begin architecture design without a separate discovery phase. Own the primary relationship between the business unit and the CTO’s engineering team for assigned initiatives, translating clearly in both directions. Define the definition of done: what gets built must solve the problem it was designed to solve. Design and execute adoption plans for assigned use cases: track usage post‑launch, identify friction, and drive resolution until users are genuinely working with the solution. Communicate roadmap, performance, and trade‑offs to business stakeholders and leadership for assigned use cases. Escalate enterprise‑level adoption patterns and systemic barriers to the AI Enablement & Change Lead. Contribute to portfolio reviews with current status, outcome data, and risk flags for assigned use cases.
• Technical Evaluation & Advisory Assess the technical feasibility of proposed use cases before they enter any pipeline: what is executable, what data prerequisites exist, and what the realistic path to production looks like. Lead vendor and tool evaluations for non‑centralized use cases, producing build‑vs‑buy recommendations defensible to the business, the CTO, and ORM.
• Citizen‑Led AI Development Support Support business units pursuing contained, non‑critical AI development or POCs where the CTO team has assessed the initiative as outside the centralized pipeline; provide technical guidance, scoping, and governance guardrails so work proceeds within ORM’s approved framework. Support organizational AI capability development across functions: help teams understand what AI tools can do in their specific context and how to use them well. Define clear boundaries for each citizen‑led initiative: what can proceed with guided self‑service, what needs central engineering involvement, and what requires full Working Group oversight.
• General Duties Keep assigned use case status, outcomes, and risk flags current for portfolio reporting. Maintain strong working relationships with assigned business functions and the CTO’s engineering teams. Support a strong risk management and governance environment for all AI initiatives. Regularly communicate use case progress and value delivery to the Head of AI Strategy.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

None

Qualifications

Deep understanding of financial services or capital markets operations; experience in post‑trade, clearing, custody, or comparable financial market infrastructure strongly preferred. Track record of operating at the intersection of business strategy and technical delivery: has produced specifications that engineering teams have built from, and business cases that senior leaders have approved. Experience identifying technology opportunities inside a business — proactively finding where AI creates value, not just responding to requests. Working knowledge of modern AI architectures, including retrieval‑augmented generation, agent frameworks, and large language model evaluation, sufficient to assess vendor claims, scope POCs, and produce requirements engineering teams can act on. Demonstrated ability to drive post‑launch technology adoption: accountable through genuine usage, not just go‑live. Familiarity with model risk governance expectations and their implications for AI use in a regulated financial environment.

Technical Skills

• AI architecture assessment: retrieval‑augmented generation, agent frameworks, and large language model evaluation
• Requirements specification for AI systems and use case feasibility analysis
• Vendor and tool evaluation methodology for AI platforms in regulated environments
• Data analysis and familiarity with data pipeline concepts relevant to AI use cases
• Process analysis and workflow mapping to support use case scoping and AI readiness work
• Analytics and BI tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) and collaboration platforms (e.g., Jira, Notion)

Education and/or Experience

• 7 or more years of experience in financial services technology or strategy, with at least five years in post‑trade or capital markets infrastructure
• Domain knowledge in at least one of the following: tokenization and digital asset infrastructure, collateral management and margining, or extended‑hours clearing and settlement operations

Certificates or Licenses

N/A — relevant AI product management, project management, or domain certification is a plus

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 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 $123,300.00 - $167,900.00

Incentive Range 8% to 15% 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.

Equal Opportunity Employer

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 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].