Systemically critical clearing and settlement infrastructure for equity derivatives
OCC operates the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, processing transactions across 21 exchanges and 100+ clearing members under SEC, CFTC, and Federal Reserve oversight. The tech stack reveals a mature, regulated infrastructure play: Java + Kafka + RabbitMQ for messaging, AWS + Azure + GCP for cloud redundancy, Kubernetes for orchestration, and Splunk + Elasticsearch + Prometheus + AppDynamics for observability. Active projects—next-generation clearing system, risk analytics implementations, model validation monitoring—coupled with hiring skewed toward engineering principals and seniors (26 of 61 technical roles at principal+ level), signal a multi-year modernization effort focused on operational resilience and real-time risk monitoring rather than feature expansion.
The Options Clearing Corporation is the central counterparty for U.S. equity derivatives markets, providing clearing and settlement services for options, futures, and securities lending transactions. Founded in 1973, OCC is designated a Systemically Important Financial Market Utility and operates under joint jurisdiction of the SEC, CFTC, and Federal Reserve. The organization serves over 100 clearing members across 21 exchanges and trading platforms. Operationally, OCC spans 1,001–5,000 employees based in Chicago, with hiring concentrated in engineering, finance, and operations roles across the United States.
OCC's primary stack includes Java, Kafka, RabbitMQ, ActiveMQ, and AWS (RDS, VPC, KMS, IAM). For observability: Splunk, Elasticsearch, Prometheus, AppDynamics. For infrastructure: Kubernetes, Helm, Terraform, Ansible. Multi-cloud presence includes Azure and GCP.
Active projects include next-generation clearing system development, risk analytics technology implementations, CI/CD pipeline modernization, model performance monitoring and validation tools, test data management, and enterprise automation—reflecting a focus on operational resilience and real-time risk oversight.
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