> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt. # Lead Associate Principal, Artificial Intelligence Engineering Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/4dd1208dfc2b9201 OCC posts a principal FDE role to build for teams inside the company in Chicago, IL, at $159,200–$220,200 base, level with the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. A senior, hands-on individual contributor will anchor OCC's AI engineering efforts, setting technical direction and building production agentic AI systems integrated with internal workflows. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [OCC](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/occ) First seen Apr 29, 2026 · open on Workday as of Nov 8, 2026 **$159,200–$220,200** Chicago, IL Hybrid Full-time A senior, hands-on individual contributor will anchor OCC's AI engineering efforts, setting technical direction and building production agentic AI systems integrated with internal workflows. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F4dd1208dfc2b9201&placement=top) - [View posting at OCC](https://theocc.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/Chicago---125-S-Franklin/Principal--Artificial-Intelligence-Engineering_REQ-4473) Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so. ## At a glance ### Posted base pay $159K–$220K Level with the median Midpoint $190K · median $190K This job $159K to $220K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K. ### The work Builds for teams inside the company Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: Internal teams - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: Individual contributor ### What they ask for Experience - **10+ years** Software engineering and systems architecture - **5+ years** Senior individual contributor work on complex, high-stakes production systems Background - **Software engineering** Visa - **No visa sponsorship** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 5+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now? The job is in Chicago, IL. Could you work there? The posting says no visa sponsorship. Do you need one? Which of these have you used in production? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: Chicago, IL - **Work arrangement**: Hybrid - **Remote work restrictions**: Hybrid; up to 2 days per week of remote work. - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Visa sponsorship**: Not available - **Pay**: ## More like this [Google](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/google) ### [Technical Solutions Consultant, Global Security Systems and Technology Applied Data and AI Solutions](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/fade74c6c6f014d8) Boulder, CO · Austin, TX · +3 more 3w ago $152,000–$221,000 [LinkedIn](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/linkedin) ### [AI Architect - SaaS GTM Tech & Analytics | IC4](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/5059032a435a0a6f) San Francisco, CA · Sunnyvale, CA · +2 more Hybrid 2w ago $141,000–$231,000 [PwC (US)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/pwc-us) ### [Tax Innovation - AI Engineer - Manager](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/49bfe340b2d7ec88) Dallas, TX · Chicago, IL · +2 more 2mo ago $99,000–$266,000 ## The job description from OCC ### *****THIS POSITION IS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR VISA SPONSORSHIP***** ### What You’ll Do OCC is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization—the infrastructure that settles every U.S. options trade. We've recently formed a dedicated AI Research & Engineering team, and we're looking for a Principal AI Engineer to serve as its technical anchor. This is a senior individual contributor role by design. You won't manage people; you'll do the work, set the technical standard, and lead through expertise. You'll be the primary driver of OCC's agentic AI capabilities, architecting and building the systems that connect AI agents to real enterprise workflows in one of the most consequential and carefully regulated environments in financial markets. You'll shape OCC's AI roadmap alongside the Executive Director of AI Engineering, mentor junior engineers, and have time for experimentation with frontier tools. Our team works directly with AWS and Anthropic, accessing Claude models through both. If you're a seasoned engineer who wants to stay hands-on, lead through technical excellence, and build agentic AI systems that matter this role was written for you. ### Primary Duties and Responsibilities To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each primary duty satisfactorily. - Partner with the Executive Director of AI Engineering to define and execute OCC's AI technical roadmap, translating organizational priorities into concrete architectural decisions - Lead OCC's agentic AI efforts: architect, build, and operate systems that connect AI agents to internal systems, data pipelines, and business workflows - Leverage OCC's direct relationships with AWS and Anthropic to evaluate and adopt new model capabilities and tooling as they become available - Build and ship production AI applications on AWS using Claude and related Anthropic tooling, maintaining high standards for reliability, security, and auditability - Architect scalable systems that integrate LLMs and AI agents into OCC's internal systems, operational workflows, and business processes, owning decisions from design through production deployment - Serve as the primary technical mentor for junior engineers: conducting code and architecture reviews, modeling engineering best practices, and raising the team's overall technical level (no direct reports) - Define and enforce AI safety standards appropriate for a regulated SIFMU environment, including hallucination detection, output validation, bias assessment, and audit trails that satisfy SEC and CFTC oversight expectations - Establish responsible AI practices and safety guardrails for LLM applications operating on sensitive financial data - Navigate OCC's change management and security review processes when deploying AI systems into production - Evaluate emerging AI technologies and provide concrete, risk-aware recommendations on adoption ### 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. ### Required - Experience mentoring and elevating junior engineers ### Preferred - Exceptional ability to explain complex technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders - Background in financial market infrastructure, derivatives, or similarly regulated industries ### Technical Skills ### Required - Expert-level Python; proficient in SQL - Deep system design expertise: distributed systems, microservices, event-driven architectures, APIs, and MCP servers - Hands-on experience with data engineering: pipelines, transformation, and data modeling - AWS experience; comfort with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines - Strong production AI/LLM experience, or demonstrated hands-on passion for the space with the engineering depth to ramp quickly - Strong working knowledge of AI risk vectors: hallucinations, prompt injection, bias, data privacy, and output validation ### Preferred - Production experience building and operating LLM-powered applications - Experience designing and operating agentic AI systems in enterprise environments - Experience with context engineering strategies including RAG, prompt architecture, and retrieval pipeline design - Familiarity with frontier models including Claude, GPT, and Gemini, and hands-on experimentation with emerging tools - Hands-on experience with Anthropic's tooling and APIs, including the Claude API, Claude.ai, or the Anthropic Console - Experience connecting AI agents to enterprise systems and workflows - Infrastructure as code (Terraform) ### Education and/or Experience - Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science or a related technical field - 10+ years of software engineering and systems architecture experience, with demonstrated technical leadership - 5+ years as a senior individual contributor on complex, high-stakes production systems ### 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 $159,200.00 - $220,200.00 ### Incentive Range 23% to 30% 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 [View posting at OCC](https://theocc.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/Chicago---125-S-Franklin/Principal--Artificial-Intelligence-Engineering_REQ-4473) ## About OCC Systemically important clearinghouse providing central counterparty clearing, settlement, risk management, and investor education for U.S.-listed options, futures, and securities lending markets. Late-stage private · 1000–2000 people ## Similar jobs [Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/jones-lang-lasalle-jll) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/c44b55a099ca0e4e) San Francisco, CA · Chicago, IL On-site 3w ago $187,100–$300,000 [Vizient](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/vizient) ### [Sr. AI Delivery & Operations Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/adcf874901565114) Edina, MN · Irving, TX · +1 more 2mo ago $102,400–$179,000 [Crowe](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/crowe) ### [AI Technical Lead](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/09376e25483dddb4) Chicago, IL · Washington, DC · +35 more Hybrid 2w ago $102,400–$204,100 [MiQ](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/miq) ### [Automation & Innovation Manager](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/0466c65720862fbe) New York, NY · Chicago, IL Hybrid New · 2d ago $140,000–$180,000 [Videojet Technologies](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/videojet-technologies) ### [AI Solutions Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/6fc14f18dcf3725a) Wood Dale, IL Hybrid 4w ago $100,000–$140,000 - [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior) - [Similar jobs in Chicago](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=chicagoland) - [Similar jobs that build for teams inside the company](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=internal-deployment) Hiring at OCC and want this page changed or removed? 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