Summer Intern - Quantitative Risk Management

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.

Location:  Chicago

Internship type:  Seasonal intern (12 weeks, summer 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 Summer Internship Program is a 12-week opportunity running either May through August or June through September, and is open to undergraduate and graduate students who are actively enrolled at a college or university. Interns work up to 40 hours per week in a hybrid work environment, and overtime is not permitted.

About the Team & Role

The Model Performance Monitoring (MPM) team is responsible for the ongoing monitoring, testing, and governance of the firm's risk models, ensuring model performance remains sound, well-documented, and compliant with regulatory expectations. The team's core functions include:

• Regulatory & Governance Reporting — Preparing and delivering all regulatory and governance materials (e.g., STANS, CST, SEC, PFMI, and XCME reporting; margin backtesting; sensitivity analysis) on time and to a consistent quality standard.
• Model Monitoring Framework — Maintaining and continuously strengthening the MPM framework, including data consistency across inputs, metric backtesting and threshold calibration, exceedance/breach investigation, and remediation of findings.
• Platform Modernization — Migrating and refactoring monitoring workflows onto the Ovation platform, including framework refactoring, environment upgrades, and BUAT testing, to support the firm's long-term technology strategy.
• AI & Process Automation — Leveraging AI tools (including Claude) and modernized codebases (migrating legacy R/MATLAB to Python, Alteryx to Airflow) to automate repetitive processes, improve turnaround time, and free up capacity for higher-value analytical work.
• BAU & Production Support — Ensuring day-to-day operational stability across backtesting, production tools, and job scheduling infrastructure, while supporting Model Risk Management (MRM) observation remediation and annual validation cycles.

Together, these functions position MPM as the team accountable for the accuracy, reliability, and regulatory readiness of model performance oversight across the firm.

Planned responsibilities and learning objectives include:

• Supporting model performance/backtesting exercises using historical portfolio data, under supervision of senior team members
• Contributing to Python scripting (Pandas) for data processing and automation of monitoring workflows
• Assisting with exploratory data analysis and visualization (e.g., Tableau/Dash) of model performance metrics
• Reviewing and helping draft documentation for model monitoring metrics and testing procedures
• Participating in code reviews and team discussions on model monitoring best practices

Job Summary & Responsibilities

• Perform model performance testing, including portfolio back-testing using historical data.

• implementation of model monitoring metrics, focusing on requirement coding, and testing quality

• Write and review documentations for model monitoring metrics, prototypes and implementation

• Support the launch of new products by enhancing monitoring capabilities.

• Develop Python scripts with Pandas and object-oriented programming to automate data processing

• Assist analysts in solving their analytics questions/challenges

Candidate Qualifications

Rising senior or second-year graduate student, graduating December 2027 or May/August 2028.

Desired Majors

• Master’s degree or equivalent in a quantitative field such as data analytics, computer science, mathematics, physics, finance/financial engineering.

Technical Skills/Experience Desired

• [Required] Strong programing skills. Able to read and/or write Python code in a collaborative software development setting.
• [Required] Experience with a source code repository system (preferably Git)
• [Required] Ability to write and optimize complex analytical (SELECT) SQL queries
• [Required] Comfortable supporting business analysts on high-priority projects.
• [Required] Strong problem-solving skills: Be able to accurately identify a problem's source, severity, and impact to determine possible solutions and needed resources.
• [Required] Experience in office technology such as PowerPoint, Confluence, Word, and Excel.

Additional Qualifications

• [Preferred] Exposure to data orchestration tools, such as Airflow
• [Preferred] Experience with Tableau, Dash and Alteryx
• [Preferred] Understanding of applied statistics and hands-on experience applying these concepts
• [Preferred] Strong quantitative skills, ability to demonstrate deep understanding in the following technical areas:
• Financial mathematics (derivatives pricing models, stochastic calculus, statistics and probability theory, advanced linear algebra)
• Econometrics, data analysis (e.g., time series analysis, GARCH, fat-tailed distributions, copula, etc.) and machine learning techniques
• Numerical methods and optimization; Monte Carlo simulation and finite difference techniques
• Risk management methods (value-at-risk, expected shortfall, stress testing, backtesting, scenario analysis)
• Financial products knowledge: good understanding of markets and financial derivatives in equities, interest rate, and commodity products.

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.

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

Incentive Range

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.

Step 1
When you find a position you're interested in, click the 'Apply' button. Please complete the application and attach your resume.  

Step 2
You will receive an email notification to confirm that we've received your application.

Step 3
If you are called in for an interview, a representative from OCC will contact you to set up a date, time, and location. 

For more information about OCC, please click here.

OCC is an Equal Opportunity Employer