Principal, Platform Architecture

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.What You'll Do:OCC's Platform Architecture team is responsible for the infrastructure, cloud, networking, compute, storage, and observability tooling that critical market functions depend on. The Principal, Platform Architecture is a senior individual contributor who defines the technical direction for OCC's core platform capabilities — owning how we build, deploy, operate, and evolve the infrastructure layer across both legacy and cloud-native environments.This is a hands-on architecture role with enterprise-wide impact. You will lead POC efforts, drive platform standards adoption, and serve as the senior technical voice on platform concerns across programs including the Renaissance/Ovation transformation. You will work closely with Application Architecture, Engineering, Security, and operations teams to ensure the platform is a resilient, scalable foundation — not a bottleneck.Primary Duties and Responsibilities:To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each primary duty satisfactorily.Define and Own Platform ArchitectureLead architecture design and decision-making for OCC's core platform capabilities: container orchestration, streaming infrastructure, cloud architecture, CI/CD andGitOps pipelines, and observabilityDevelop and maintain target-state platform architectures with clear transition plans from current stateOwn reference architectures for Kubernetes-based workloads, Kafka streaming topologies, Flink stream processing, and AWS infrastructure patternsEstablish platform architecture standards and guardrails that application teams can build against reliablyEnsure non-functional requirements — availability, latency, throughput, recoverability — are addressed at the platform level, not delegated to individual application teamsDrive Platform ModernizationArchitect and guide migration of workloads to cloud-native patterns on AWS, including compute, networking, storage, and security servicesDefine OCC's GitOps model — infrastructure-as-code practices, pipeline standards, environment promotion, and configuration management at scaleEvaluate and recommend platform technologies and tooling; lead proof-of-concept efforts to validate architectural decisions before commitmentIdentify and reduce platform risk across the portfolio — single points of failure, unsupported dependencies, capacity constraints, and operational gapsCollaborate and InfluencePartner with Application Architecture to ensure platform capabilities match application design requirements — particularly for high-throughput, low-latency clearing workloadsEngage Engineering and operations teams to ensure platform designs are buildable, operable, and supportable — not just theoretically soundFacilitate architecture working sessions with technical leads and business stakeholders; communicate platform decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical audiencesRaise the Bar on Resilience and OperabilityEstablish observability standards — logging, metrics, tracing, and alerting — as a platform-level capability, not an afterthoughtDefine capacity planning and performance engineering practices for platform infrastructureParticipate in incident reviews and post-mortems; translate operational findings into durable platform architecture improvementsEnsure platform architecture satisfies OCC's regulatory obligations under Regulation SCI and CPMI-IOSCO resilience principlesSupervisory Responsibilities:NoneQualificationsThe 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.Required10+ years of experience in infrastructure, platform, or systems architecture roles with demonstrated ownership of enterprise-scale platform decisionsDeep, hands-on expertise with Kubernetes — cluster architecture, workload design, networking, security, and operational patterns at scaleHands-on experience architecting Apache Kafka deployments — topic design, partitioning strategy, consumer group patterns, schema management, and operational concernsPractical experience with Apache Flink or equivalent stream processing frameworks — job design, state management, and deployment on KubernetesStrong AWS architecture experience — VPCs, EC2, EKS,MSK, S3, IAM, KMS, networking, and security servicesDemonstrated experience designing and implementing GitOps pipelines — infrastructure-as-code, environment promotion, secrets management, and release automation using tools such as Flux, ArgoCD, Terraform, or HelmExperience with brownfield/legacy environments alongside cloud-native programsAbility to produce clear, comprehensive architecture artifacts: diagrams, ADRs, reference architectures, and transition plansStrong communication skills — able to present platform decisions to executive audiences and work through technical trade-offs with engineering teamsPreferredExperience in financial services, particularly regulated environments (SIFMU, clearinghouse, exchange, or bank)Familiarity with Regulation SCI, CPMI-IOSCO resilience requirements, or equivalent financial market infrastructure regulatory frameworksExperience with observability tooling at scale — OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, or equivalentFamiliarity with high-performance and low-latency computing patterns relevant to risk and clearing workloadsExperience with enterprise architecture frameworks such as TOGAFTechnical SkillsKubernetes (EKS or self-managed), Kafka, Apache FlinkAWS foundational services: EC2, EKS, MSK, S3, VPC, IAM,KMS, CloudWatchGitOps tooling: ArgoCD, Flux, Terraform, HelmCI/CD pipelines: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or equivalentObservability: OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana,Splunk, or equivalentUnix/Linux environments; container and image management (Docker, Nexus/Artifactory)Education and/or ExperienceBS degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Mathematics, or a similar technical field, or equivalent practical experience. 10+ years of relevant work experience.Certificates or LicensesAWS Solutions Architect — Associate or Professional (preferred)About UsThe 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 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 workTuition Reimbursement to support your continued educationStudent Loan Repayment AssistanceTechnology Stipend allowing you to use the device of your choice to connect to our network while working remotelyGenerous PTO and Parental leave 401k Employer MatchCompetitive health benefits including medical, dental and visionVisit for more information.CompensationThe 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 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$178,700.00 - $289,100.00Incentive Range23% 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 1When you find a position you're interested in, click the 'Apply' button. Please complete the application and attach your resume. Step 2You will receive an email notification to confirm that we've received your application.Step 3If 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 EmployerSummaryLocation: Chicago - 125 S FranklinType: Full time