Senior Mainframe System Programmer - MQ

Software International; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 175,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company seeks a Senior Mainframe System Programmer - MQ for a long-term project with one of Canada's largest banks. In this role, you will leverage your technical expertise to ensure reliable environments and lead problem-solving initiatives concerning MQ systems. The position requires strong communication skills, and the ability to foster relationships across teams, making a significant impact on project success. You will be responsible for overseeing MQ system architecture and providing comprehensive support.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 8-10 years' experience in designing, configuring, and maintaining MQ on the Mainframe.
• Solid expertise in monitoring MQ environments and troubleshooting issues.
• Good understanding of MQ integration with DB2, IMS, and CICS.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical direction and expertise for stable environments.
• Lead MQ problem identification, analysis, and resolutions.
• Collaborate with teams for operational objectives and disaster recovery.

Skills

MQ System Configuration

Technical Leadership

Problem Solving

Communication

Relationship Management

Job description

About the job Senior Mainframe System Programmer - MQ

Software International (SI) supplies technical talent to a variety of clients ranging from Fortune 100/500/1000 companies to small and mid-sized organizations in Canada/US.

We have a Permanent or 12-month renewable contract as a Senior Mainframe System Programmer - MQ with our large consulting client, working on a long-term project for one of Canada's largest banks. This could be an indefinite contract or a permanent role.

Type: Permanent or Long Term Contract

Duration: 12 months to start + possible multiple extensions or a permanent role

Salary or Rate: approximately $175,000 - $225,000 + bonus as permanent employee or $100 - $130/hr + C2C - depending on overall experience

Location: Remote, Toronto, ON, Canada

As a Sr. Mainframe System Programmer, MQ, you are responsible for providing technical direction and subject matter expertise to ensure stable, reliable environments for complex sharing initiatives in compliance with established controls, standards, policies, and procedures. You will collaborate with and advise senior management, utilizing your solid understanding of business dynamics to analyze and protect test environment integrity and mitigate risks, present alternative solutions, and recommend solutions using available resources for complex initiatives with key dependencies. You will provide technical leadership, interpret complex information, and coordinate client, provider, and vendor relationships to meet and manage service expectations, aligned to best practices. In addition, you will help to develop the team to maximize individual contributions and professional growth, while functioning effectively with your colleagues.

In this role, you will be the primary escalation point for MQ-related incidents, working closely with internal and external vendors for support. The role is the liaison for all MQ system architecture design, implementation, and testing. The role leads MQ problem identification, analysis, and resolution issues. Works closely with application development teams for current, future design, and operational requirements. The role plans and participates in annual mainframe systems disaster recovery exercises, and provides on-call support.

How you'll succeed

• Technical Expertise: You will leverage your solid technology expertise to review and analyze current client software and requirements to determine the most effective solution to include in business proposals; install, upgrade, and customize ISV software tools in a multi-system z/OS mainframe environment, and help to ensure software and hardware remains current to avoid End of Support costs.
• Effective Communication: You will work to accomplish organizational goals that are consistent in supporting both IT and Business objectives, communicate effectively and patiently across technology teams to influence teams to adopt solutions to keep critical systems secure and operationally resilient. You will provide and document problem analysis, resolution, and prevention, designing procedures and best practice techniques, using IBM and ISV online tools for opening and managing problem report tracking and resolution. You will actively participate in periodic disaster recovery exercises, maintaining disaster recovery readiness of systems, and monitoring status of systems to proactively prevent issues from occurring.
• Relationship Management: You will collaborate with internal business partners in Application Development, Infrastructure, IT Operations, and IT Support to accomplish organizational goals that support both IT and Business objectives. You will work directly with Hardware and Software vendors on solutions, build your network, and deepen existing relationships. You will leverage your communication skills to build strong partnerships, influencing participants to mutually beneficial outcomes.

Who you are

• You can demonstrate a minimum of 8-10 years' experience: in designing, configuring, implementing, and maintaining MQ on the Mainframe. Additionally, you have:
  • Expertise in setting up and configuring queues and channels for efficient message processing, while managing queues and listeners to ensure reliability and performance.
  • Ability to handle maintenance and upgrades, including applying patches to MQ systems.
  • Solid expertise in monitoring the health and performance of MQ environments using tools (e.g., Sysview, Omegamon).
  • Good understanding of MQ security, including access controls, encryption, and authentication.
  • Experience troubleshooting MQ-related issues, including message flow interruptions or performance problems.
  • Experience maintaining comprehensive documentation for MQ environments and operational procedures.
  • Good understanding of how MQ integrates with DB2, IMS, and CICS, and strong knowledge of networking, including TCP/IP for MQ communication.