Lead Associate Principal, Software Engineering, SDET

The Options Clearing Corporation; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 164,000 - 205,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Tuition reimbursement

Student loan repayment

Tech stipend

PTO & parental leave

401k match

Health/dental/vision

Job summary

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is seeking an experienced automation engineer to design, develop and maintain enterprise-scale automation frameworks across frontend, API, and backend layers. You will implement reusable component libraries, CI/CD pipelines, and data-driven testing strategies to improve test efficiency and coverage.

You will collaborate with software developers, project management, and customer support to ensure adherence to quality standards, perform performance testing,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, IT, or related field plus 5 years in software testing.
• Experience designing and maintaining automation frameworks across frontend, API, and backend.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and containerized test environments is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop and maintain automation frameworks and CI/CD pipelines.
• Perform performance and load testing; manage test plans and results.
• Collaborate with developers, PMs, and support to enforce quality standards.

Skills

Test automation

QA strategy

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, IT, or related

Tools

Selenium

RestAssured

PostgreSQL

Cucumber

Karate

TestNG

Jenkins

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Duties

Duties: Responsible to design, develop and maintain new and existing automation frameworks, continued evaluation of test cases for inclusion in test regression, tests coverage and automation of newly implemented functionality, and development of tools to enable acceptance test efficiencies. Work closely with Software Developers, Project Management and Customer Support to form and follow quality procedures, standards and specifications. Create, maintain and execute automation test plans, writing code against software platforms, estimating testing efforts, analyzing and communicating test results, defect tracking and participation in day to day acceptance test activities, and contribute to the company’s performance and scalability testing efforts. Develop, enhance and extend automation frameworks. Identify quality tasks during team sprint cycle and implement automation for new features. Analyze and communicate test results and defect tracking. Participate in performance and load test efforts. Assist in the planning, creation and control of the test environments and test data. Define test strategy, conduct requirements analysis for testability, identify scope, conduct risk and mitigation planning, configuration management planning, write master and detailed test plans for test planning and design. Participate in the review of acceptance test procedures and processes and provide recommendations for improvements to eliminate redundancies in testing and improve efficiency. Architect enterprise-wide automation frameworks that span frontend, API, and backend testing layers using Selenium, RestAssured, and PostgreSQL; design reusable component libraries, including Cucumber step definition libraries; engineer TestNG thread-safe dependency injection patterns and repeatable test runs at scale. Orchestrate full-cycle testing strategies across multi-tier architectures by implementing Functional, Integration, and Regression testing, validating end-to-end business critical UI workflows and cross-browser rendering via Selenium-based suites; verify Microservices communication, payload validation, and fault tolerance through API-level integration tests; and ensure Backend system integrity by testing database transactions, data pipelines, and message queue interactions across SQL and NoSQL environments. Architect and maintain production-grade CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, Docker, and Kubernetes, with stage-gated quality controls, parallel execution strategies, and environment-specific deployment strategies; containerize test execution environments using Docker to ensure dependency consistency and portability across dev and staging. Migrate manual and script-based testing to Cucumber or Karate BDD frameworks by establishing shared Gherkin feature libraries; embed BDD best practices through structured onboarding, feature file review workflows, and scenario design standards.

Education & Experience Required

Education & Experience Required: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, IT, or related and five (5) years of experience as a software developer in test, quality assurance lead or related Special Skills Required: 3- or 4- year bachelor’s degree is accepted.

Special Skills Required

• Architect enterprise-wide automation frameworks that span frontend, API, and backend testing layers using Selenium, RestAssured, and PostgreSQL; design reusable component libraries, including Cucumber step definition libraries; engineer TestNG thread-safe dependency injection patterns and repeatable test runs at scale;


• Orchestrate full-cycle testing strategies across multi-tier architectures by implementing Functional, Integration, and Regression testing, validating end-to-end business critical UI workflows and cross-browser rendering via Selenium-based suites; verify Microservices communication, payload validation, and fault tolerance through API-level integration tests; and ensure Backend system integrity by testing database transactions, data pipelines, and message queue interactions across SQL and NoSQL environments;


• Architect and maintain production-grade CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, Docker, and Kubernetes, with stage-gated quality controls, parallel execution strategies, and environment-specific deployment strategies; containerize test execution environments using Docker to ensure dependency consistency and portability across dev and staging;


• Migrate manual and script-based testing to Cucumber or Karate BDD frameworks by establishing shared Gherkin feature libraries; embed BDD best practices through structured onboarding, feature file review workflows, and scenario design standards.

Salary

Salary $163,600-$204,600

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

Work Arrangement

Up to 40% telecommuting permitted.

Equal Opportunity Employer

EOE.

About the Company

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.

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.