Location: Chicago, IL
Salary: $60.00 USD Hourly - $75.00 USD Hourly
Description: Senior Middleware Messaging & Platform Engineer Job Overview We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Middleware Messaging & Platform Engineer to join our Infrastructure Engineering team. This role is responsible for the design, administration, automation, security, and modernization of enterprise messaging and middleware platforms supporting mission-critical business applications.
The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in IBM MQ, API gateways, NGINX, container platforms, and cloud-native infrastructure, with a strong focus on automation, security, high availability, and operational excellence. This position will play a key role in strategic initiatives involving cloud adoption, Kubernetes-based deployments, infrastructure-as-code, vulnerability management, and disaster recovery planning.
Key Responsibilities IBM MQ Administration & Support - Install, configure, administer, and maintain IBM MQ Queue Managers and MQ Clients on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
- Perform IBM MQ upgrades, fix pack installations, patch management, and lifecycle maintenance activities.
- Configure and manage MQ components including:
- Queue Managers
- Local, Remote, Alias, and Model Queues
- Channels and Listeners
- Clusters
- Topics and Subscriptions
- Monitor system health, message throughput, queue depth, latency, and overall platform performance.
- Troubleshoot MQ connectivity issues, message delivery problems, security-related incidents, and performance bottlenecks.
- Conduct root cause analysis and implement corrective and preventive actions.
- Partner with application teams and serve as a subject matter expert for messaging solutions.
Performance, Capacity & High Availability - Analyze logs, traces, and performance metrics to optimize messaging infrastructure.
- Monitor resource utilization including CPU, memory, storage, and network consumption.
- Develop capacity planning strategies and scalability roadmaps.
- Design and implement highly available messaging solutions including clustering and distributed queue architectures.
- Develop, maintain, and regularly test disaster recovery (DR) procedures and failover strategies.
- Participate in business continuity planning and multi-site resilience initiatives.
Security & Compliance - Implement and manage IBM MQ security controls including:
- TLS/SSL encryption
- Channel Authentication Rules (CHLAUTH)
- Object Authority Manager (OAM)
- Certificate and keystore management
- Collaborate with security teams to ensure compliance with corporate security standards and regulatory requirements.
- Support vulnerability remediation efforts and security hardening initiatives.
- Apply security patches and mitigate risks associated with identified vulnerabilities and CVEs.
Cloud & Container Platforms - Participate in the design and migration of middleware workloads to AWS.
- Deploy and manage IBM MQ within containerized environments using Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift, and Rancher.
- Support infrastructure modernization initiatives utilizing cloud-native technologies and container orchestration platforms.
- Configure and maintain middleware services deployed across multi-cluster and hybrid-cloud architectures.
API Gateway, NGINX & SFTP Platform Management - Design, deploy, and support API gateway and reverse proxy solutions.
- Configure and troubleshoot API proxies, routing policies, security policies, and traffic management controls.
- Administer NGINX environments including:
- Reverse proxy configuration
- Load balancing
- SSL/TLS termination
- Health checks
- Rate limiting
- Kubernetes/OpenShift ingress controllers
- Manage SFTP gateways and managed file transfer (MFT) solutions, including:
- Key-based authentication
- User and directory management
- File transfer monitoring
- Integration with downstream services
Automation & DevOps - Develop automation using Terraform, Ansible, GitOps, Shell scripting, Python, and other infrastructure automation tools.
- Build and maintain CI/CD deployment pipelines leveraging Jenkins, Harness, Artifactory, and HashiCorp Vault.
- Support infrastructure-as-code (IaC) initiatives and configuration management practices.
- Automate operational tasks, middleware deployments, environment provisioning, and compliance validations.
Monitoring & Operations - Implement proactive monitoring and alerting strategies using enterprise observability platforms.
- Support production operations, incident response activities, and on-call responsibilities as required.
- Work closely with cross-functional teams including application development, networking, security, operations, and project management teams.
- Create and maintain architecture diagrams, operational procedures, standards, and technical documentation.
Required Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
- 10+ years of hands-on experience administering IBM MQ within enterprise environments.
- Strong expertise in:
- Queue Managers
- Queues
- Channels
- Clustering
- Publish/Subscribe
- MQ Security
- Extensive experience administering middleware platforms on Linux environments, particularly RHEL.
- Proven experience troubleshooting complex middleware and messaging issues.
- Strong scripting and automation skills using Bash, Python, Shell, or similar languages.
- Solid understanding of networking fundamentals including TCP/IP, DNS, firewalls, load balancers, and SSL/TLS.
- Excellent communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to work effectively both independently and within cross-functional teams.
Preferred Qualifications - Experience administering IBM MQ in cloud and containerized environments.
- Knowledge of advanced IBM MQ capabilities, including:
- Advanced Message Security (AMS)
- Managed File Transfer (MFT)
- MQ Appliances
- Experience with AWS-based middleware and messaging deployments.
- Hands-on expertise with Kubernetes, OpenShift, Docker, and Rancher.
- 6+ years of experience designing, deploying, and automating middleware technologies using Terraform, Ansible, and GitOps methodologies.
- 4+ years of experience administering API gateway and proxy technologies.
- Strong experience with:
- API proxy design and deployment
- OAuth 2.0 and API security
- API lifecycle management
- Traffic governance and rate limiting
- Experience supporting NGINX as both a reverse proxy and Kubernetes/OpenShift ingress controller.
- Experience administering enterprise SFTP and managed file transfer solutions.
- Experience building and supporting Jenkins-based operational and deployment pipelines.
- Working knowledge of enterprise monitoring and observability tools such as Splunk, Dynatrace, Instana, Nagios, or Prometheus.
- Familiarity with Kafka and other modern messaging technologies.
- Experience working in Agile, DevOps, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) environments.
- Strong understanding of disaster recovery planning, high availability architectures, and multi-data-center deployments.
Security & Vulnerability Management Experience Candidates should possess:
- Experience working with vulnerability assessment and scanning tools such as Qualys, Nessus, or equivalent platforms.
- Ability to analyze, prioritize, and remediate middleware-related vulnerabilities.
- Experience implementing CIS benchmark recommendations and security hardening standards.
- Familiarity with vulnerability remediation and patch management for API gateways, web servers, messaging platforms, and managed file transfer solutions within highly regulated enterprise environments.
What You'll Bring - Deep technical expertise in enterprise messaging and middleware platforms.
- Strong automation and infrastructure-as-code mindset.
- Passion for modernization, cloud adoption, and platform engineering.
- A customer-focused approach with excellent collaboration skills.
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