Overview
Skills
Job Details
Job Title: Senior Mainframe Developer
Location: Columbia, SC (Hybrid)
Duration: 12+ Months
Contract: W2 Only (NO C2C OR 1099)
About the Role
We are seeking a highly skilled and proactive Senior Mainframe Developer to serve as a critical pillar for our enterprise z/OS environment. This role goes beyond traditional development, requiring a blend of deep technical expertise in IBM mainframe technologies and robust production support leadership. You will be responsible for ensuring the stability, performance, and continuous operation of our most critical business applications. You will lead troubleshooting efforts, perform essential maintenance, mentor junior staff, and act as a senior escalation point for complex system issues, guaranteeing the success of nightly and weekly processing cycles that power our business.
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as the senior technical escalation point, analyzing and responding to complex end-user and Tier 1/Tier 2 developer questions and tickets.
- Ensure that nightly and weekly batch cycles complete successfully by proactively monitoring job streams, identifying failures, and leading remediation efforts.
- Remediate critical system issues including system overload, long-running jobs, SQL degradation, and abends. Perform root cause analysis and implement permanent fixes.
- Maintain and troubleshoot system interfaces between different subsystems (CICS, IMS, DB2, MQ) and manage file transfer mechanisms (NDM, FTP).
- Perform routine system and job stream maintenance, including administering user access to specific batch flows or applications as necessary.
- Develop, maintain, and optimize programs using COBOL and/or PL/I, JCL, PROCs, and REXX/CLIST utilities.
- Manage database environments with a solid understanding of DB2 static SQL, including precompile, bind, and package/plan management. Utilize DB2 utilities and write stored procedures.
- Support and enhance IMS (DB/DC) environments, including knowledge of PSB/DBD/ACB generation flows.
- Conduct advanced debugging, including the ability to analyze load modules, compare source-to-load behavior, and reverse-engineer logic when source is unavailable.
- Utilize Endevor (or Changeman) for disciplined source and version control management.
- Lead a small team of mainframe developers, providing technical guidance, mentorship, and distributing workload.
- Contribute to system design, application development, testing, and operational stability initiatives, applying hands-on practical experience to improve processes and resiliency.
- Create and maintain comprehensive operational runbooks and technical documentation.
Required Qualifications & Skills
- 11+ years of hands-on experience supporting and developing applications on IBM z/OS, including experience leading or mentoring a team of developers.
- 10 years of development experience in PL/I or COBOL.
- Expert-level knowledge of JCL, PROCs, REXX, CLIST, ISPF, and SDSF.
- Strong experience with DB2, including static SQL, binding process, and utilities.
- Experience with IMS DB/DC and related generation flows.
- Hands-on experience with CICS, VSAM, and MQ Series.
- Proficiency with mainframe source control using Endevor or Changeman.
- Experience with file transfer mechanisms (NDM, FTP).
- Exceptional problem-solving skills and the ability to work under pressure during production incidents.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to interact with technical teams and business stakeholders.
- A proven track record in ensuring operational stability.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with mainframe performance monitoring and tuning tools (Omegamon, MainView).
- Knowledge of modern mainframe integration (APIs, z/OS Connect).
- Exposure to DevOps principles for the mainframe (automated testing, deployment).
- Experience with Assembler programming.