Year-Round Intern - AI Research & Engineering

Location: Chicago - 125 S Franklin

*****THIS POSITION IS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR VISA SPONSORSHIP*****

To be considered for this position, applications and resumes are accepted only through our careers site by directly applying to the posted job. We do not accept unsolicited resumes or sales solicitations from staffing agencies. Any OCC employee wishing to submit a referral must do so through their Workday account. Any resume submitted outside of an active job posting will not be considered for employment.

*****INTERNS AND SEASONAL INTERNS ARE ELIGIBLE ONLY FOR PAID SICK LEAVE ACCRUED BASED ON HOURS WORKED. NO OTHER BENEFIT INCLUDING TECHNOLOGY STIPEND APPLY TO INTERNS OR SEASONAL INTERNS***** Location: Chicago

Internship type: Year-round intern (1,000 hours max, January 2027–December 2027)

Hybrid Work Program

OCC operates under a Hybrid Work Program which, absent an approved exception, requires employees to work from an OCC office at least 3 days per week. To maximize in–person collaboration, Tuesday and Wednesday are considered anchor days, and all employees are expected to work in the office both days. Employees meeting performance expectations are generally permitted to select 2 other days per week to work remotely if desired. When working remotely, employees are generally expected to work from the state in which they reside, absent an exception approved by Human Resources. Additionally, OCC generally does not permit employees to work while traveling internationally.

About OCC:

A World Class Clearing Organization

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 21 exchanges and trading platforms.

OCC also provides free and engaging educational resources about the benefits and risks of options through its Options Industry Council (OIC).

OCC is building a culture that empowers continued learning, authentic innovation, and constant creativity.

About the Intern Program:

OCC is looking for interns who are eager to learn, humble enough to ask questions, and ready to think critically about complex problems. The OCC Internship Program equips students with the real-world skills needed to transition successfully into a career in financial services. As an intern, you will contribute to meaningful projects, applying your skills and knowledge to real challenges facing the business. Your time with us is a real opportunity to make a genuine impact on the future of OCC!

OCC's Year-Round Internship Program is a 12-month opportunity running from January through December and is open to both undergraduate and graduate students who are actively enrolled at a college or university. Interns work up to 20 hours per week during the school year and up to 40 hours per week during the summer, subject to a 1,000-hour cap. The role is based in a hybrid work environment, and overtime is not permitted.

About the Team & Role

Artificial Intelligence Research & Engineering (AIRE) is responsible for enterprise AI solution implementation and governance across OCC. AIRE evaluates emerging AI capabilities, builds secure and compliant platforms, and partners with business and technology teams to deliver AI-driven solutions that improve operational efficiency and decision-making. Core functions span Generative AI Solutions & Engineering, AI Governance & Risk Management, AI Vendor & Platform Management, and AI Training & Enablement.

Currently moving aggressively into agentic AI, leveraging frontier technologies, such as Anthropic's Claude platform and models, to transform how OCC operates, one functional area at a time.

This intern will work directly with our engineering team to help design, prototype, and evaluate agentic AI solutions built on frontier platforms. Depending on interests and skill set, contributions could include building and testing AI agent workflows, supporting governance and risk-review processes for new AI use cases, or helping assess vendor/platform capabilities. The intern will gain hands-on exposure to how a leading financial market infrastructure company is operationalizing generative and agentic AI at enterprise scale.

Job Summary & Responsibilities

This intern will join the AI Research & Engineering (AIRE) team and work hands-on building agentic AI solutions using frontier platforms (e.g., Anthropic's Claude models and tooling) to automate and enhance functional areas across OCC.

Projects & responsibilities may include:

Agent design & prototyping — Build and iterate on AI agent workflows for a specific OCC functional area, working alongside engineers who own these systems in production.

Platform integration — Integrate agentic solutions with internal data sources and APIs, gaining experience with the same MCP/tool-use patterns our engineers use to connect models to enterprise systems.

Evaluation & testing — Design test cases and evaluation frameworks to measure agent accuracy, reliability, and safety, which is a core ongoing responsibility for AI engineers ensuring solutions are production-ready.

Governance & risk awareness — Partner with the AI Governance & Risk Management functions to understand compliance and risk considerations for deploying AI in a regulated financial environment, a responsibility every AI engineer on the team shares.

Documentation & knowledge sharing — Document agent architectures, prompt designs, and lessons learned, contributing to the team's interna