Cerebra Consulting Inc is a System Integrator and IT Services Solution provider with a focus on Big Data, Business Analytics, Cloud Solutions, Amazon Web Services, Salesforce, Oracle EBS, Peoplesoft, Hyperion, Oracle Configurator, Oracle CPQ, Oracle PLM and Custom Application Development. Utilizing solid business experience, industry-specific expertise, and proven methodologies, we consistently deliver measurable results for our customers. Cerebra has partnered with leading enterprise software companies and cloud providers such as Oracle, Salesforce, Amazon and able to leverage these partner relationships to deliver high-quality, end-to-end customer solutions that are targeted to the needs of each customer.
Role: Sr. CICS Systems Programmer
Location: Remote
W2 Only
Required Skills:
8+ years of hands-on experience as a CICS Systems Programmer in large-scale enterprise environments.
Expert-level knowledge of IBM CICS Transaction Server.
Extensive SMP/E experience including installs, upgrades, and maintenance strategy.
Strong experience supporting IBM MQ for z/OS in CICS-integrated environments.
Key Responsibilities
Support and maintain CICS (kicks) environment in production
Manage two CICS regions: AOR (Application Owning Region) and WOR (Work Owning Region)
Handle system-level programming responsibilities (not application development)
Contribute to high availability initiatives (L-PAR failover capability)
Support future CICSplex implementation (multi-LPAR load balancing)
Participate in disaster recovery planning and runbook updates
Collaborate with broader infrastructure teams (storage, middleware, DR)
Skills & Experience
Strong CICS (Customer Information Control System) background
IBM MQ experience preferred (commonly paired with CICS, but not required)
z/OS system programming experience
SMP/E install/maintenance experience is a strong plus
High availability and disaster recovery exposure (nice to have)
Ability to operate in smaller shop (end-to-end ownership vs siloed roles)
Open to:
Senior candidates (8+ years)
Mid-level candidates (2 5 years) with strong aptitude and growth potential
Environment & Context
Small, less complex CICS shop compared to large enterprises
Only 2 CICS regions supporting production workloads
Mix of legacy architecture (carried over from older VSE design decisions)
Distributed applications feed into CICS from web-based systems
No hardware interaction required fully software-focused role
Existing team includes one remote engineer (New Jersey)
Broader enterprise support exists for DR, storage, and infrastructure
Key Focus Areas
Immediate knowledge transfer before retirement (critical)
High availability project:
Phase 1: Move workloads across LPARs for maintenance flexibility
Phase 2: CICSplex implementation (future state)
Disaster recovery readiness:
Runbooks updated every 6 months
Biannual DR testing (next test scheduled for May 4)
Avoid misalignment with candidates:
Not a COBOL developer role
True system programmer (low-level system/config focus)
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