Year-Round Intern, CX

About OCC

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, 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.

About the Intern Program

OCC is looking for interns eager to learn, humble enough to ask questions, and ready to think critically about complex problems. The OCC Internship Program equips students with 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.

The Year-Round Internship Program is a 12-month opportunity running from January through December, open to undergraduate and graduate students 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. This role is based in a hybrid work environment, and overtime is not permitted.

About the Team & Role

Within ETS, the UI/UX and CX practice is responsible for understanding and improving the internal employee experience with technology through user research, journey mapping, service design, and data-driven improvements. This intern will contribute alongside the CX Strategist and UX Strategist/Research/Design, supporting active research initiatives, helping build and maintain listening post infrastructure, assisting with journey mapping and service blueprint workshops, and contributing to UX research and design activities. This is a hands-on role with real ownership.

Job Summary & Responsibilities

This intern will work embedded within the ETS UX/CX team on projects, aiming to leave with owned artifacts and real facilitation experience. Assigned projects and responsibilities include:

• User Research Support: Assist in planning and conducting user interviews and surveys with internal employees to understand their experience with ETS services and tools. Help synthesize findings into affinity diagrams, experience summaries, and personas.
• Journey Mapping and Service Blueprinting: Participate in and support the facilitation of journey mapping workshops. Contribute to the documentation and refinement of current-state journey maps and service blueprints.
• Listening Post Maintenance: Help deploy and monitor feedback instruments across ETS touchpoints (Help Desk, onboarding, self-service). Track response rates, flag data quality issues, and summarize emerging themes.
• Dashboard and Reporting Support: Assist with pulling and organizing CX data, updating dashboard visualizations, and preparing summaries for team and stakeholder review.
• UX Research and Design Contribution: Support UX research activities including usability testing, navigation testing, heuristic review, or design feedback sessions related to internal tools and employee-facing interfaces.
• Backlog and Documentation: Maintain Jira backlog items tied to CX improvement work, document meeting outcomes, and keep project artifacts organized and current.

Qualifications

• Rising senior or second-year graduate student, graduating December 2027 or May/August 2028.
• Actively pursuing a degree in Human-Computer Interaction, UX Design, Information Science, Psychology, Business, Marketing, Communications, or a related field.
• Coursework or project experience in user research, service design, human-centered design, or customer experience is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated interest in human-centered design principles, with the ability to apply empathy-based thinking to research and problem-solving.
• Ability to synthesize findings and present them clearly.
• Organized and detail-oriented, able to track multiple tasks and maintain documentation accurately.
• Collaborative working style with a genuine interest in how people interact with technology.
• Intellectual curiosity about IT systems, enterprise tools, and internal service delivery.
• Portfolio, coursework samples, or class projects that demonstrate research, design, or analysis work are strongly encouraged.

Technical Skills/Experience

• Master's Degree student preferred.
• Familiarity with digital whiteboarding or design collaboration tools such as Miro, Mural, FigJam, or Figma.
• Basic proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets for data organization, survey analysis, or reporting.
• Exposure to survey design or data collection tools (Microsoft Forms, Google Forms, Qualtrics, or SurveyMonkey).
• Exposure to user research tools (Hotjar, Optimal Workshop, etc.).
• Familiarity with journey mapping, personas, or other UX/CX research artifacts through coursework or project work.
• Basic experience with project or task management tools (Jira, Trello, Asana, or similar) is a plus.
• Familiarity with presentation tools (PowerPoint) for communicating research findings.
• Experience with qualitative research and facilitation.

Internship Details

• Internship type: Year-round intern.
• Maximum hours: 1,000 hours.
• Duration: January 2027–December 2027.
• Work hours: Up to 20 hours per week during the school year, up to 40 hours per week during the summer.
• Work environment: Hybrid Work Program (requires working from an OCC office at least 3 days per week; Tuesday and Wednesday are anchor days).
• Overtime is not permitted.
• Interns are eligible only for paid sick leave accrued based on hours worked. No other benefit, including technology stipend, applies.

Compensation

• Salary Range: $25.00 - $25.00 per hour.
• Eligible for an annual discretionary incentive compensation award.