Lead Associate Principal, Software Engineering: Software Development Test (SDET)

The OCC; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 123,000 - 205,000; 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) seeks an Associate Principal in Performance Testing to design and execute comprehensive performance and failover testing strategies across mission-critical systems. You will lead high-volume testing, automate performance checks, and validate RTO/RPO targets in multi-region cloud/hybrid environments.

Responsibilities include defining load profiles, executing tests with LoadRunner/JMeter/Gatling, building CI/CD pipelines, and mentoring QE engineers while

Qualifications

• 7+ years in performance testing and engineering with complex scenarios.
• 5+ years designing failover/DR testing across multi-region architectures (cloud/hybrid).
• Proficiency with LoadRunner, JMeter, Gatling; scripting in Python/Java/JavaScript; develop testing frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Define test plans, load profiles, and ramp scenarios for high-volume transactions.
• Execute tests with LoadRunner, JMeter, Gatling; analyze results and optimize.
• Lead DR testing across primary/secondary/tertiary regions and multi-region deployments.
• Build/maintain performance test automation using Python/Java and open-source tools.
• Develop CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions) for continuous performance validation.
• Validate application behavior across multi-region deployments and region-switching tests.

Skills

Performance testing

Failover testing

Scripting

Cloud architecture

CI/CD

Observability

Linux

SQL queries

Education

B.S. in Computer Science/analytical field

AWS certification preferred

Tools

LoadRunner

JMeter

Gatling

Python

Java

JavaScript

Postman

RestAssured

Pact

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

Kubernetes

Docker

UC4 (Automic)

Job description

What You'll Do:

OCC's Enterprise Quality Engineering organization seeks an Associate Principal in Performance Testing to design and execute comprehensive performance and failover testing strategies across mission-critical clearing, risk, and settlement systems. This role combines hands-on performance engineering expertise to ensure systems meet regulatory RTO/RPO requirements, handling multi-region failover scenarios, cloud-native architectures, and distributed event-driven systems.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each primary duty satisfactorily.

• Define test plans, load profiles, and ramp scenarios for high-volume transaction systems

• Execute tests using LoadRunner, JMeter, and Gatling; analyze results and recommend optimizations

• Lead DR testing across primary, secondary, and tertiary regions

• Build and maintain performance test automation using Python, Java, and open-source tools

• Develop CI/CD-integrated pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions) for continuous performance validation

• Implement regression testing to catch performance degradation from code changes

• Validate application behavior across multi-region deployments

• Define and validate RTO/RPO targets for critical applications

• Design failover scenarios (region switching, data replication, automation, post-failover validation)

• Partner with infrastructure/application teams to verify state consistency and data integrity during failover

• Test replication lag, failover triggers, and cross-region data consistency

• Validate Kafka producer/consumer behavior under failover conditions

• Confirm performance SLAs hold during region-switching scenarios

• Integrate test results with observability platforms

• Maintain and evolve LoadRunner scripts and environments

• Document methodologies, baselines, and trend analysis

• Mentor QE engineers on performance and failover testing techniques

• Collaborate with development, DevOps, and infrastructure teams on requirements and capacity planning

• Ensure testing aligns with PGP compliance and financial market infrastructure regulations

• Document test evidence to support regulatory audits

• Validate performance SLAs meet regulatory RTO/RPO requirements

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.

• 7+ years hands-on experience in performance testing and engineering, including design and execution of complex performance test scenarios

• 5+ years designing and executing failover/DR testing across multi-region architectures (cloud and hybrid environments)

• Strong expertise in performance testing tools: LoadRunner (enterprise scaling), JMeter, Gatling, with ability to evaluate tool trade-offs

• Proficiency in scripting/programming: Python, Java, JavaScript, with ability to develop performance testing frameworks

• Solid hands-on experience with AWS cloud environments, including EC2, RDS, Kafka, and performance monitoring

• Working knowledge of Kubernetes and containerized application performance testing (Docker, Kafka, event-driven systems)

• Experience with UC4 (Automic) job scheduling in test execution and orchestration

• Hands-on experience testing Kafka producer/consumer performance, lag validation, and message throughput

• Strong understanding of relational databases (SQL Server, Oracle, DB2) and ability to write queries for performance analysis

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub, GitLab CI) and integration of performance tests into automation

• Proficiency with APM/observability platforms (Splunk, Dynatrace, AppDynamics) and correlation of test results with production telemetry

• Working knowledge of Linux operating systems and command-line tools for performance analysis

• Experience with test management tools (Jira, Zephyr, SpiraTest) and defect tracking integration

• Background in finance domain OR highly regulated, low-latency, high-availability systems (clearing, settlement, risk)

• Experience with multi-region testing (primary/secondary/tertiary architectures) with performance validation across regions

Technical Skills:

• Familiarity with AI/ML-augmented testing tools for automated test case generation, self-healing automation, and predictive defect analysis.

• Experience with API and contract testing (Postman, RestAssured, Pact) and service virtualization for testing complex distributed and microservices architectures.

• Understanding of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles, SLIs/SLOs/SLAs, and how performance engineering feeds operational resilience metrics.

• Experience with observability/APM platforms (Splunk, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, AWS Vantage, Logic Monitor) and correlating test results with production telemetry.

• Testing Experience in multi region (primary/secondary/tertiary) hybrid architecture across cloud and on-premise

• Familiarity with FinOps or cost-aware performance engineering practices in cloud environments.

• Experience testing critical financial market infrastructure (clearing, settlement, risk management, or exchange systems) or other highly regulated, low-latency, high-availability environments.

Education and/or Experience:

• B.S. Degree in Computer Science, an analytical field, or equivalent practical experience required.

• 7+ years of experience in the IT industry with 5+ years in Quality Engineering, tool architecture and orchestration including open-source and commercial toolset.

• 5+ years of experience in Agile methodology.

• 5+ years of experience in integration of Jira and Test management tool.

• Strong communication skills, written and oral, analytical abilities, problem solving skills, sound judgment and time management skills.

• Experience in creating automation scripts.

• Experience in developing automation frameworks.

• Experience in developing Jenkins pipelines.

• Experience in the Options and Futures industry is preferred

Certificates or Licenses:

• AWS certification and/or performance engineering certification preferred

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

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

$122,500.00 - $204,600.00

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.

OCC is an Equal Opportunity Employer