Remote: Mainframe Application and Infrastructure Architect

Mainframe Application and Infrastructure Architect

100% Remote

12+ Months Contract

Phone/Skype

Role Summary
The Mainframe Application and Infrastructure Architect is responsible for designing, engineering, and advising on integrated mainframe application, infrastructure, and hybrid solutions that meet client business objectives while improving performance, reliability, scalability, operational supportability, and cost efficiency. This role requires a strong background across both mainframe applications and infrastructure, including the ability to translate complex business, technical, operational, and financial requirements into practical, efficient, secure, and commercially sound solutions.
The architect will work directly with clients, delivery teams, sales teams, application teams, ITOM and operations teams, infrastructure specialists, and governance stakeholders to assess current environments, identify optimization opportunities, and recommend solutions that reduce total cost of ownership, improve operational outcomes, and support long-term modernization roadmaps.

Key Responsibilities

• Design end-to-end mainframe application and infrastructure solutions that align with client business requirements, technical standards, delivery capabilities, and commercial objectives.
• Leverage a strong application and infrastructure background to analyze COBOL, CICS, DB2, IMS, JCL, batch, scheduling, integration, z/OS, storage, capacity, automation, monitoring, security, and related mainframe environments.
• Assess existing application portfolios, infrastructure platforms, workloads, batch windows, data flows, interfaces, dependencies, capacity, resiliency, tooling, and operational processes to identify modernization, optimization, automation, and cost-reduction opportunities.
• Engineer cost-effective and efficient solutions that balance performance, resiliency, maintainability, security, risk, and total cost of ownership.
• Provide client-facing recommendations on application modernization, rehosting, refactoring, API enablement, DevOps adoption, workload placement, zLinux opportunities, product rationalization, and operational improvements.
• Develop solution roadmaps, technical designs, sizing estimates, cost models, migration approaches, implementation plans, and statements of work.
• Partner with application development, infrastructure, operations, storage, database, security, automation, and cloud teams to ensure proposed solutions are practical, deliverable, and aligned with enterprise architecture standards.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to clients by explaining technical options, trade-offs, risks, benefits, and financial impacts in clear business terms.
• Support new business, renewals, transformation initiatives, and client workshops by shaping solution strategy and presenting recommendations to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities to improve application performance, reduce MIPS consumption, streamline batch processing, simplify support models, and improve service quality.
• Ensure solutions comply with architectural governance, security requirements, regulatory expectations, resiliency standards, and operational best practices.
• Apply IT Operations Management experience to align architecture recommendations with incident, problem, change, configuration, event, monitoring, service management, and operational support processes.
• Contribute to continuous improvement by documenting reusable patterns, lessons learned, estimation approaches, and best practices for mainframe application and infrastructure solutioning.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in mainframe application development, infrastructure architecture, solution architecture, systems engineering, or related mainframe engineering roles.
• Strong hands-on background with mainframe application and infrastructure technologies such as COBOL, CICS, DB2, IMS, JCL, VSAM, MQ, batch processing, scheduling tools, z/OS, storage, automation, monitoring, security, capacity management, and mainframe integration patterns.
• Demonstrated experience assessing application and infrastructure landscapes and recommending modernization, optimization, resiliency, automation, and cost-efficiency strategies.
• Ability to develop technical solution designs, architecture documents, implementation plans, estimates, and client-facing recommendations.
• Experience working with clients to understand business objectives, operational challenges, technical constraints, and financial drivers.
• Strong understanding of application performance tuning, batch optimization, workload management, capacity planning, infrastructure resiliency, disaster recovery, service continuity, storage considerations, and operational support models.
• Experience with ITOM practices and tools, including monitoring, event management, incident management, problem management, change management, configuration management, service mapping, and operational reporting.
• Ability to evaluate multiple solution options and clearly explain the cost, benefit, risk, and operational impact of each option.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven ability to work across application, infrastructure, operations, security, cloud, and commercial teams to deliver integrated solutions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with mainframe modernization approaches including rehost, refactor, rearchitect, retire, replace, API enablement, DevOps on mainframe, and hybrid cloud integration.
• Knowledge of z/OS, zLinux, mainframe storage, automation, monitoring, scheduling, security, and software licensing considerations.
• Knowledge of ITOM platforms and practices such as ServiceNow ITOM, CMDB, discovery, service mapping, event correlation, monitoring integration, automation, and operational analytics.
• Experience supporting sales pursuits, client workshops, statements of work, transition planning, transformation programs, or managed services solutioning.
• Familiarity with cost optimization levers such as MIPS reduction, workload balancing, batch window improvement, software product rationalization, automation, and fit-for-purpose platform placement.
• Architecture, cloud, security, or mainframe-related certifications are a plus.

Core Competencies

• Application and infrastructure solution architecture
• Client advisory and consultative communication
• Cost-effective solution engineering
• Mainframe modernization and optimization
• Mainframe infrastructure engineering, resiliency, capacity, and operational optimization
• ITOM-aligned operational design and service management integration
• Technical and financial trade-off analysis
• Cross-functional leadership and collaboration
• Problem solving, analytical thinking, and continuous improvement
• Clear documentation and executive-level presentation

Success Measures

• Client solutions are technically sound, commercially viable, and aligned with business outcomes.
• Recommended architectures improve efficiency, reduce operational complexity, and lower total cost of ownership.
• Application and infrastructure impacts are clearly understood, documented, and communicated before implementation.
• Solutions improve operational visibility, supportability, monitoring, event response, and service management effectiveness through ITOM-aligned design.
• Client stakeholders view the architect as a trusted advisor who provides practical, balanced, and value-driven recommendations.
• Solutions are deliverable, supportable, secure, and aligned with long-term mainframe and modernization roadmaps.