Senior Associate, Pricing & Margins

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC); Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 84,500 - 122,000; Full time

Job summary

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is seeking a Risk Management professional to support pricing, margin calculations, and regulatory programs. This role analyzes market data, validates pricing models, and collaborates with multiple departments to ensure accurate collateral haircuts and risk parameters.

Candidates should have 3+ years in back-office operations or risk management, strong Excel/SQL skills, and experience with Bloomberg or Refinitiv.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, or related field.
• 3+ years of experience in back‑office operations or risk management.
• Strong analytical and data-analytic capabilities.
• Experience with pricing and margin computations.

Responsibilities

• Analyze market data and valuation for OCC‑cleared products.
• Support SEC/CFTC regulated customer margin programs.
• Evaluate market data vendors and manage entitlements.
• Develop and maintain pricing & margin procedures.
• Assist in training and onboarding of team members.

Skills

Securities & futures pricing

VaR concepts

Data validation

Verbal & written comms

Customer service

Teamwork

Attention to detail

Pressure management

Education

Bachelor's in Finance/Economics

Tools

Excel

Bloomberg/Refinitiv

SQL

Tableau

DB2/SQL tools

Job description

What You'll Do

This role supports the performance of a broad array of Risk Management functions. Responsibilities include: all activities supporting performed to ensure the integrity of all Price Data (used for Risk Management and Core Clearing processes) and all activities performed to support SEC and CFTC regulated customer margin / haircut programs (including Risk Based Haircuts/Customer Portfolio Margin ("RBH/CPM"), and OFRA/SPAN). This role will also support activities performed to establish and periodically review and evaluate the continued adequacy of OCC’s collateral and currency haircuts; and activities performed to establish, monitor, and evaluate certain parameters used is risk modeling and determination of Clearing Member margin requirements.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

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

Perform analysis of market and theoretical valuation of all products cleared by OCC, eligible to be deposited as collateral, or that are part of an OCC supported process. Perform reconciliation of modeled output and update where appropriate: analysis is performed using proprietary OCC tools/applications which assist in identifying and correcting instances of price arbitrage and other pricing irregularities; products include equity, index, government security, and derivative prices (i.e., options, futures, and futures options) as well as all derivative price inputs (e.g., dividend, interest rates, exchange rates); provide final approval and sign off for transmission to downstream processes (e.g., model calibration, theoretical computations, margin calculations). Perform evaluation of market data vendors and manage market data entitlements. Monitor intraday financial market performance and ensure that pricing and market data are accurately reflected. Correct issues as discovered or elevate to management for direction, while observing standards for accuracy and timeliness. Support and administer SEC and CFTC regulated programs related to customer margin / haircut calculations: evaluate products to ensure eligibility standards for inclusion are met and determine appropriate treatment (e.g., stress levels, allowed offsets) consistent with Regulatory requirements; determine appropriate risk parameters, maintain, and develop parameter files for RBH/CPM and SPAN. Perform daily evaluation of rate performance and periodic recalibration of related parameters. Answer questions from and support Clearing Members, participating in OCC administered Regulatory programs and the investing public. Provide detailed explanation of OCC’s risk management framework to external parties and provide guidance of supported regulatory programs and relevant SEC, FINRA, and CFTC Regulations. Conduct miscellaneous studies and analysis for senior management, including trend analysis for derivative valuation and various risk analytics. Support system development from a business user perspective by coordinating with multiple departments (e.g., application developers, quantitative risk analysts) to enhance system performance and functionality. Recommend new and improved processes to enhance system performance and functionality. Develop and maintain written procedures for Pricing and Margins departmental processes. Assist in the training and onboarding of new Pricing & Margin team members. Occasional travel required.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• None

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of securities and futures markets and derivative valuation, particularly option trading and pricing inputs.
• Understanding of statistical concepts (e.g., VaR, Expected Shortfall).
• Ability to generate and evaluate descriptive and performance metrics from large data sets and synthesize results for Management.
• Comfortable performing data validation and reconciliation.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Comfortable working in a customer service-oriented environment and addressing questions from both OCC colleagues and the investing public.
• Good listening skills and ability to contribute to discussions with management from various departments.
• Self-directed and motivated to solve urgent problems by conducting ad hoc analysis and/or reaching out to other departments as necessary; ability to derive creative and adaptive solutions to problems.
• Ability to work both independently with little direction or oversight and in a team-oriented collaborative environment.
• Good organization skills; must be detail oriented.
• Ability to work well under pressure with multiple priorities and time-sensitive deadlines, and emphasis placed on accuracy.

Technical Skills

Strong PC skills; comfortable with Windows environment. Highly proficient in Microsoft Excel, including experience using lookups, pivot tables, and complex formulas. Comfortable performing data analysis and manipulation on large, complex sets of information with little oversight. Proficient in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Experience using Bloomberg and/or Refinitiv desk-top client, and ability to connect these tools to Excel. Familiarity with relational databases and ability execute SQL using appropriate query tools (i.e. Squirrel, TextPad, DB2 Connect); ability to modify SQL a plus. Proficiency in Tableau a plus.

Education and/or Experience

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, or related field. 3+ years of experience in back‑office operations or risk management.

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

$84,500.00 - $122,000.00

Incentive Range

6% to 10%

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