Performance Engineering Jobs in Illinois (NOW HIRING)

OCC's Enterprise Quality Engineering organization is seeking a Performance Engineering Principal to define and lead the performance testing, automation, and quality engineering strategy across OCC's critical clearing, risk, and settlement systems. This is a technical architect and thought‑leadership role for someone who can design performance engineering practices at enterprise scale for cloud‑native, containerized, and event‑driven systems, while ensuring the rigor, resilience, and regulatory compliance expected of critical financial market infrastructure.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each primary duty satisfactorily. The ideal candidate combines deep performance engineering expertise (LoadRunner, JMeter, Gatling) with strong automation engineering skills (Selenium, Cucumber, Cypress, Protractor, ServiceNow ATF) and a working knowledge of modern cloud and container architecture (AWS, Kubernetes, Kafka). Experience in regulated financial environments and familiarity with compliance frameworks such as PGP is highly valued.

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• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary functions.
• 10+ years of Extensive hands‑on experience architecting and executing performance testing in AWS cloud environments.
• 7+ years of strong working knowledge in agile testing practices and open‑source tools including Python, Selenium, JMeter, Java, and Cucumber.
• Solid understanding of Kafka and Kubernetes architecture, including performance and resiliency implications of event‑driven and containerized/orchestrated systems.
• Experience with UC4 (Automic) job scheduling/orchestration and enterprise reporting outputs.
• Strong, proven experience with LoadRunner for enterprise‑scale performance testing.
• Evaluate and recommend performance testing tools and APM platforms (Splunk, Dynatrace, AppDynamics)
• Working knowledge of relational databases and query tools (SQL Server, Oracle, DB2).
• Strong programming/scripting experience in Java, JavaScript, VBScript, and Python.
• Experience with ETL tools such as Alteryx and reporting/visualization tools such as Tableau.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and tools such as Jenkins, GitHub, GitLab CI, or Azure DevOps.
• Proficiency with test management and defect tracking tools (Jira, Zephyr, SpiraTest), including tool integrations.
• Strong understanding of containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes) technologies.
• Strong hands‑on experience with Linux operating systems.
• Experience establishing a performance engineering Center of Excellence or maturity model across a large enterprise.
• Present findings to leadership and drive architectural improvements.
• Mentor and guide mid‑level and senior engineers on performance testing and failover testing methodologies.

• Familiarity with AI/ML‑augmented testing tools for automated test case generation, self‑healing automation, and predictive defect analysis.
• Experience with API and contract testing (Postman, RestAssured, Pact) and service virtualization for testing complex distributed and microservices architectures.
• Understanding of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles, SLIs/SLOs/SLAs, and how performance engineering feeds operational resilience metrics.
• Experience with observability/APM platforms (Splunk, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, AWS Vantage, Logic Monitor) and correlating test results with production telemetry.
• Testing Experience in multi region (primary/secondary/tertiary) hybrid architecture across cloud and on‑premise.
• Familiarity with FinOps or cost‑aware performance engineering practices in cloud environments.
• Experience testing critical financial market infrastructure (clearing, settlement, risk management, or exchange systems) or other highly regulated, low‑latency, high‑availability environments.
• Experience establishing a performance engineering Center of Excellence or maturity model across a large enterprise.

• B.S. Degree in Computer Science, an analytical field, or equivalent practical experience required.
• 10+ years of experience in the IT industry with 5+ years in Quality Engineering, tool architecture and orchestration including opensource and commercial toolset.
• 7+ years of experience in Agile methodology.
• 7+ years of experience in integration of Jira and Test management tool.
• Excellent communication skills, written and oral, analytical abilities, problem solving skills, sound judgment and time management skills.
• Experience in creating automation scripts.
• Experience in developing automation frameworks.
• Experience in developing Jenkins pipelines.
• Experience in the Options and Futures industry is preferred.

• AWS certification and/or performance engineering certifications.

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.

• 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

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 $158,600.00 - $263,700.00 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.

OCC is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. OCC provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, age, marital status, religion, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

Numerous studies have shown that people from certain groups are less likely than others to apply to jobs if they believe they do not meet 100% of the requirements. We encourage everyone to review our open positions and apply if you think your experience may be a match, even if you do not meet all of the qualifications. Your perspective may be an element we need to continue building innovative solutions to support the markets and market participants we serve.