Mainframe Dev & Support Lead

Position: Mainframe Dev & Support Lead
Location: REMOTE/Holmdel, NJ (Hybrid)
Duration: 6+ Months Contract

on W2

Insurance/Financial Services experience required

Role Summary

The Technical Lead to support the Mainframe applications while coordinating with Distributed system teams. The lead ensures system stability, meets SLAs, and enables continuous improvement through innovation, intelligent monitoring, and process optimization. This role includes ownership of planning, estimation, PI Planning participation, and driving automation.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage P1/P2 incidents, lead bridge calls, effective communication with stakeholders and coordinate with offshore team
• Ensure timely response to ServiceNow incidents, problems, and change tasks
• Conduct RCA and implement preventive and automated solutions
• Perform development and provide solutioning
• Perform effort estimation, capacity planning, and resource allocation for features, enhancements, and support work
• Actively participate in PI Planning, Sprint Planning, backlog grooming, and Agile ceremonies
• Coordinate with Distributed teams (Java, APIs, Microservices, Cloud) for seamless integration
• Prepare or review technical designs ensuring performance, scalability, and maintainability
• Guide teams in debugging complex issues across COBOL, CICS, DB2, MQ, and integrated systems
• Oversee DB2 tuning, batch optimization, and system performance improvements
• Lead automation initiatives to reduce manual effort in batch monitoring, incident resolution, and deployments
• Leverage tools/scripts for auto-recovery, job restart, and performance trend analysis
• Oversee release and deployment management using ChangeMan
• Ensure compliance with change management, audit, and regulatory requirements
• Drive continuous improvement using KPIs, SLAs, and operational metrics
• Act as a liaison between business stakeholders, Mainframe, and Distributed teams

Required Technical Skills

Core Mainframe

• COBOL (advanced debugging, optimization, architecture understanding)
• JCL (complex workflows, scheduling optimization, condition handling)
• VSAM (file tuning, error handling, data management strategies)
• DB2 (advanced SQL tuning, locking analysis, stored procedures)
• CICS (performance tuning, debugging, region management)
• MQ (message flows, error handling, integration patterns)

Distributed & Modern Technologies

• REST/SOAP APIs and Microservices integration
• Working knowledge of Java-based applications
• Integration frameworks and middleware

Tools

• Control-M (advanced scheduling, automation)
• ServiceNow (incident/problem/change management)
• ChangeMan (code promotion/version control)
• Abend Aid, Expeditor, File Aid
• Jira
• Monitoring tools (Splunk, Dynatrace, AppDynamics)

Soft Skills

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities under pressure
• Strong communication with business, executive stakeholders, and cross-functional teams
• Ownership mindset and focus on operational excellence
• Strong Agile mindset with PI Planning and SAFe experience

Experience Profile

• 10+ years of experience in Mainframe development and support
• Strong experience in estimation, PI Planning, and Agile delivery (SAFe preferred)
• Hands-on exposure to Mainframe + Distributed systems integration