Year-Round Intern - AI Research & Engineering

OCC•Chicago, IL

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

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 Year-Round Internship Program is a 12-month opportunity running from January through December and is open to both undergraduate and graduate students who are actively enrolled at a college or university. Interns work up to 20 hours per week during the school year and up to 40 hours per week during the summer, subject to a 1,000-hour cap. The role is based in a hybrid work environment, and overtime is not permitted. Artificial Intelligence Research & Engineering (AIRE) is responsible for enterprise AI solution implementation and governance across OCC. AIRE evaluates emerging AI capabilities, builds secure and compliant platforms, and partners with business and technology teams to deliver AI-driven solutions that improve operational efficiency and decision-making. Core functions span Generative AI Solutions & Engineering, AI Governance & Risk Management, AI Vendor & Platform Management, and AI Training & Enablement. Currently moving aggressively into agentic AI, leveraging frontier technologies, such as Anthropic's Claude platform and models, to transform how OCC operates, one functional area at a time. This intern will work directly with our engineering team to help design, prototype, and evaluate agentic AI solutions built on frontier platforms. Depending on interests and skill set, contributions could include building and testing AI agent workflows, supporting governance and risk-review processes for new AI use cases, or helping assess vendor/platform capabilities. The intern will gain hands-on exposure to how a leading financial market infrastructure company is operationalizing generative and agentic AI at enterprise scale. This intern will join the AI Research & Engineering (AIRE) team and work hands-on building agentic AI solutions using frontier platforms (e.g., Anthropic's Claude models and tooling) to automate and enhance functional areas across OCC.

Requirements

Rising senior or second-year graduate student, graduating December 2027 or May/August 2028.
Desired Majors: Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics / Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, Machine Learning, Financial Engineering / Financial Mathematics, Economics
Solid programming skills in Python (most common) and/or SQL, Java, C++, or R
Coursework or project experience in machine learning, AI, or data science
Exposure to AI/ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or Scikit-learn
Interest or experience in generative AI — LLMs, prompt engineering, or agentic systems
Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
Experience with data pipelines or data engineering tools (Spark, Databricks, etc.)
Strong analytical thinking and ability to communicate technical work clearly
Curiosity, initiative (independent projects, research, hackathons), and a strong foundation for quick learning
Strong academic performance (GPA 3.5+ preferred), reflecting rigor and consistency
Demonstrated initiative — independent projects, research, hackathons, or startup experience beyond coursework
Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Comfort working cross-functionally with business, risk, and technology teams
Strong problem-solving skills and a self-directed approach to learning new tools/technologies
Interest in financial services, market infrastructure, or regulated industries a plus
Familiarity with Agile/collaborative development practices (version control, code reviews, sprint-based work)

Nice To Haves

Prior internship or work experience in a technical or analytical role preferred

Responsibilities

Agent design & prototyping — Build and iterate on AI agent workflows for a specific OCC functional area, working alongside engineers who own these systems in production.
Platform integration — Integrate agentic solutions with internal data sources and APIs, gaining experience with the same MCP/tool-use patterns our engineers use to connect models to enterprise systems.
Evaluation & testing — Design test cases and evaluation frameworks to measure agent accuracy, reliability, and safety, which is a core ongoing responsibility for AI engineers ensuring solutions are production-ready.
Governance & risk awareness — Partner with the AI Governance & Risk Management functions to understand compliance and risk considerations for deploying AI in a regulated financial environment, a responsibility every AI engineer on the team shares.
Documentation & knowledge sharing — Document agent architectures, prompt designs, and lessons learned, contributing to the team's internal playbooks, mirroring how full-time engineers formalize and scale successful pilots.
Cross-functional collaboration — Work directly with business stakeholders in the target functional area to gather requirements and validate that the agentic solution solves a real operational problem, the same stakeholder-facing skill required in the full-time role.