IBM Middleware consultant

IBM Middleware consultant 
Location: Remote

The Middleware Engineer III provides advanced, enterprise-wide administration and production support for the company’s middleware technologies, toolsets, and associated peripherals. This senior-level role is responsible for operating, deploying, testing, configuring, monitoring, and performance tuning the MQ, IBM Integration Bus (IIB) / App Connect Enterprise (ACE), Kafka, OpenShift, WebSphere, Tomcat, APIC, and DataPower environments. The engineer serves as a company subject matter expert, sets technical standards, leads large-scale initiatives, provides guidance to less experienced staff, and assists development teams with diagnosing, isolating, and debugging applications.

Core Technologies

Advanced knowledge across the following technologies is expected:

•     IBM MQ

•     IBM Integration Bus (IIB) / App Connect Enterprise (ACE)

•     Apache Kafka

•     Apache Tomcat

•     Red Hat OpenShift

•     IBM WebSphere

•     IBM API Connect (APIC) / DataPower

•     Programming & scripting languages: Java, Python, Node.js, and SQL

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Essential Responsibilities / Accountabilities

As a senior member of the team, the Middleware Engineer III is fully accountable for the responsibilities below, which consolidate advanced-level duties with the operational and intermediate duties carried across the discipline:

•     Provides 24 x 7 overall operations, deployment, and problem support for the middleware environments through daily, weekly, monthly, and annually defined maintenance activities.

•     Provides advanced problem determination and resolution across the middleware environments from both monitoring systems and escalated help desk tickets.

•     Acts as the primary contact for the coordination and testing of middleware.

•     Provides advanced middleware support for internal and external projects.

•     Provides and reviews recurring informational reports on middleware usage, performance, and capacity metrics, and makes recommendations to address tactical and strategic challenges.

•     Provides an advanced level of deployment functions for the middleware environments, and coordinates deployment and operation of middleware hardware and software installations.

•     Works closely with IPM Engineering to develop project designs that are adequate for production processing.

•     Works closely with IPM Engineering to develop proposals, evaluate middleware technologies, and make recommendations on those services.

•     Works with all areas to determine the appropriate business need as it relates to interfacing internal/external middleware requirements to company systems.

•     Monitors and reviews contractual agreements, including long- and short-term planning strategies.

•     Develops organizational standards for middleware system design, utilization, and vendor support.

•     Recommends and leads large-scale process improvements to the overall middleware methodology.

•     Leads larger-scale projects as directed by leadership.

•     Defines scope, objectives, and needs for new or revised documentation of existing middleware installations, and develops standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the support of middleware systems.

•     Provides direction, technical assistance, and guidance to intern, contract, temporary help, and Level I & II staff, as needed.

•     Develops expertise in a middleware technology discipline and acts as a company subject matter expert (SME) in that area.

•     Provides clear and accurate documentation of procedures, problem resolutions, and changes.

•     Works closely with vendors, consultants, and other outside professionals regarding middleware.

•     Consistently demonstrates high standards of integrity by supporting the Lifetime Healthcare Companies’ mission and values, adhering to the Corporate Code of Conduct, and leading to the Lifetime Way values and beliefs.

•     Maintains high regard for member privacy in accordance with the corporate privacy policies and procedures.

•     Maintains regular and reliable attendance, which is expected and required.

•     Performs other functions as assigned by management.

Minimum Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

•     Advanced, hands-on expertise across the core technologies (MQ, IIB/ACE, Kafka, Tomcat, OpenShift, WebSphere, APIC/DataPower).

•     Working proficiency in Java, Python, Node.js, and SQL sufficient to diagnose, debug, and support applications.

•     Strong problem determination and root-cause analysis skills across monitoring systems and escalated tickets.

•     Demonstrated ability to set standards, lead large-scale projects, and mentor less experienced engineers.

•     Ability to produce clear, accurate technical documentation and standard operating procedures.

•     Effective written and verbal communication and the ability to work with vendors, consultants, and cross-functional teams.

•     Ability and willingness to participate in a rotating 24 x 7 on-call support schedule.

Preferred Qualifications

•     Relevant vendor or platform certifications (e.g., IBM, Red Hat OpenShift, Apache Kafka).

•     Experience in a healthcare or other regulated (HIPAA) environment.

•     Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, containerization, and automation/scripting for deployment.