Senior Software Engineer

Manulife/John Hancock; Southwestern Ontario; Hybrid; CAD 113,000 - 163,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, mental health, vision,

Disability and life insurance

Pension and employee share ownership

Job summary

Manulife/John Hancock is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join the Affinity Life technology team in Waterloo, Ontario. The role bridges COBOL/mainframe expertise with modern stack, focusing on API integration, automation, DevOps, and modernization to ensure secure, reliable, and scalable enterprise applications running on IBM z/OS.

You will mentor engineers, participate in architecture reviews, and contribute to continuous improvement while supporting production systems and operational

Qualifications

• Significant software engineering experience building, maintaining, and supporting enterprise-scale mainframe applications.
• Experience with COBOL, JCL, DB2, CICS, and IBM z/OS.
• Experience with VSAM or related mainframe data technologies.
• Experience developing and supporting high-volume, mission-critical production systems, including incident troubleshooting, performance tuning, root-cause analysis, and reliability improvements.
• Experience with application modernization, API integration, or connectivity between mainframe and distributed systems.
• Understanding of Agile development practices and end-to-end software development lifecycle delivery.
• Experience with source control, CI/CD, and modern mainframe development tools.
• Familiarity with technologies such as GitHub, Jenkins, Endevor, Zowe, or IBM Developer for z/OS (IDz) is beneficial.
• Experience contributing to solution design, technical decision-making, architecture or code reviews, and engineering quality.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly and collaborate effectively with engineering and business stakeholders.
• Experience mentoring engineers and sharing technical knowledge across a team.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, unit test, and integrate new features and enhancements for enterprise mainframe applications.
• Build and maintain solutions using COBOL, JCL, DB2, CICS, and IBM z/OS technologies.
• Support mission-critical production applications, troubleshoot complex issues, perform root-cause analysis, and improve system reliability, security, resiliency, and performance.
• Lead the technical design and implementation of complex backend and mainframe solutions.
• Contribute to application modernization, API integration, and connectivity between mainframe applications and distributed systems.
• Conduct architecture, design, and code reviews with a focus on scalability, reliability, maintainability, and engineering quality.
• Apply modern engineering practices, including automated testing, source control, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with engineering leaders, architects, product owners, software engineers, and business stakeholders to design solutions that deliver meaningful business outcomes.
• Promote Agile principles and contribute to quality-focused engineering practices within the team.
• Mentor engineers through technical guidance, knowledge sharing, code reviews, and collaborative problem-solving.
• Maintain clear technical, deployment, operational, maintenance, and support documentation throughout the software development lifecycle.

Skills

Mainframe COBOL

JCL

DB2

CICS

IBM z/OS

API integration

DevOps

Agile

CI/CD

GitHub

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related field

Tools

Jenkins

Endevor

Zowe

IDz (IBM Developer for z/OS)

GitHub integration

Job description

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join our Affinity Life technology team. In this hands‑on role, you will design, develop, modernize, and support mission‑critical enterprise applications running on IBM z/OS. You will work at the intersection of proven mainframe technology and modern software engineering, helping evolve critical applications through API integration, automation, DevOps practices, and modernization. You will also play an important role in production support and operational reliability, ensuring our applications remain secure, resilient, performant, and available. This opportunity is well suited to an experienced engineer who is able to bridge COBOL/mainframe expertise to modern stack, enjoys solving complex production issues, and is motivated by modernization, technical collaboration, and mentoring others!

Position Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, unit test, and integrate new features and enhancements for enterprise mainframe applications.
• Build and maintain solutions using COBOL, JCL, DB2, CICS, and IBM z/OS technologies.
• Support mission‑critical production applications, troubleshoot complex issues, perform root‑cause analysis, and improve system reliability, security, resiliency, and performance.
• Lead the technical design and implementation of complex backend and mainframe solutions.
• Contribute to application modernization, API integration, and connectivity between mainframe applications and distributed systems.
• Conduct architecture, design, and code reviews with a focus on scalability, reliability, maintainability, and engineering quality.
• Apply modern engineering practices, including automated testing, source control, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with engineering leaders, architects, product owners, software engineers, and business stakeholders to design solutions that deliver meaningful business outcomes.
• Promote Agile principles and contribute to quality‑focused engineering practices within the team.
• Mentor engineers through technical guidance, knowledge sharing, code reviews, and collaborative problem‑solving.
• Maintain clear technical, deployment, operational, maintenance, and support documentation throughout the software development lifecycle.

Required Qualifications:

• Significant software engineering experience building, maintaining, and supporting enterprise‑scale mainframe applications.
• Strong knowledge and/or experience with COBOL, JCL, DB2, CICS, and IBM z/OS.
• Experience with VSAM or related mainframe data technologies.
• Experience developing and supporting high‑volume, mission‑critical production systems, including incident troubleshooting, performance tuning, root‑cause analysis, and reliability improvements.
• Experience with application modernization, API integration, or connectivity between mainframe and distributed systems.
• Understanding of Agile development practices and end‑to‑end software development lifecycle delivery.
• Experience with source control, CI/CD, and modern mainframe development tools.
• Familiarity with technologies such as GitHub, Jenkins, Endevor, Zowe, or IBM Developer for z/OS (IDz) is beneficial.
• Experience contributing to solution design, technical decision‑making, architecture or code reviews, and engineering quality.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly and collaborate effectively with engineering and business stakeholders.
• Experience mentoring engineers and sharing technical knowledge across a team.

Preferred Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience contributing to or leading mainframe modernization or digital transformation initiatives.
• Experience integrating mainframe applications with distributed platforms using technologies such as REST APIs or z/OS Connect.
• Experience with modern mainframe development or AI‑assisted engineering tools, including Zowe, IDz, GitHub integration, or comparable technologies.
• Experience working with Life Insurance applications, products, or business processes.
• Exposure to mainframe‑to‑cloud integration or migration initiatives.

When you join our team:

We’ll empower you to learn and grow the career you want.

We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well‑being and inclusion are more than just words.

As part of our global team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see.

Location & Compensation:

Location: Waterloo, Ontario. Working Arrangement: Hybrid. Salary range is expected to be between $113,000.00 CAD - $163,000.00 CAD. Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance. The actual salary will vary depending on local market conditions, geography and relevant job‑related factors such as knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training. If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact [e-mail] for the salary range for your location.

Benefits:

• Health, dental, mental health, vision, short‑and‑long‑term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage, adoption/surrogacy and wellness benefits, employee/family assistance plans.
• Retirement savings plans (including pension and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources.
• Generous paid time off program in Canada includes holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence.
• If you are applying for this role in the U.S., please contact [e-mail] for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.

We use data and analytics technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and automated processing tools, to analyze and process the information you provide to us or third parties in the application process. For more information, please refer to our personal information collection statement.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy‑related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law.

Accommodation:

A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact [e-mail].

Company Overview:

About Manulife and John Hancock Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html.