COBAL Developer

Simon & Schuster Australia; Remote; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading publishing company in the UK is seeking an experienced COBOL Developer to support and enhance their Order Management System. The role involves maintaining COBOL modules in a .NET environment, resolving incidents, and developing new features while ensuring system stability. Candidates should have over 5 years of COBOL development experience and familiarity with SQL Server. This position can accommodate remote work, offering flexibility for applicants.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on COBOL development experience in mainframe and emulated environments.
• Experience working with COBOL in a .NET framework/emulator.
• Strong experience with JCL and batch workflows.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and enhance COBOL-based modules.
• Support day-to-day operations of the Order Management System.
• Develop new features while ensuring system stability.

Skills

COBOL development experience

JCL knowledge

SQL Server proficiency

Strong debugging skills

Communication skills

Tools

.NET framework/emulator

Microsoft SQL Server

Job description

Simon & Schuster was named to Forbes magazine list of America's Best Mid-Size Employers 2022. Simon & Schuster is a global leader in general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for readers of all ages, and in all printed, digital and audio formats. Its distinguished roster of authors includes many of the world's most popular and widely recognized writers, and winners of the most prestigious literary honors and awards. It is home to numerous well-known imprints and divisions such as Simon & Schuster, Scribner, Atria Books, Gallery Books, Pocket Books, Adams Media, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing and Simon & Schuster Audio and international companies in Australia, Canada, India and the United Kingdom, and proudly brings the works of its authors to readers in more than 200 countries and territories.

Simon & Schuster is seeking an experienced COBOL Developer to support and enhance our legacy Order Management System. Originally developed in COBOL, the system has been modernized to run in a Windows‑based environment using a .NET COBOL emulator and integrates with a Microsoft SQL Server database.

This role is ideal for a developer comfortable bridging classic COBOL logic with modern infrastructure, ensuring reliability, stability, and incremental modernization of our order and fulfillment processes.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain, enhance, and debug COBOL-based modules running within a .NET COBOL emulator environment.
• Support the day-to-day operations of the Order Management System, including incident resolution, bug fixes, and performance tuning.
• Develop new features and modifications while ensuring backward compatibility and system stability.
• Write, review, and optimize SQL queries and stored procedures interacting with Microsoft SQL Server.
• Work with JCL and related batch-processing concepts to understand legacy logic and maintain compatibility with migrated workflows.
• Participate in application modernization efforts, including documentation, refactoring, and migration planning.
• Provide on-call or off-hours support as needed for high-priority production issues.
• Collaborate closely with business stakeholders, analysts, and other engineering teams to understand functional requirements and translate them into technical solutions.
• Ensure proper version control, testing practices, and release management for all changes.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands‑on COBOL development experience, ideally with exposure to both mainframe and emulated environments.
• Experience working with COBOL in a .NET framework/emulator (e.g., Micro Focus, NetCOBOL, or equivalent).
• Strong experience with JCL (Job Control Language), including understanding of batch workflows, execution sequences, utilities, and job scheduling concepts.
• Proficiency with Microsoft SQL Server, including T‑SQL, indexing concepts, stored procedure development, and performance tuning.
• Working knowledge of Windows-based server environments.
• Proven ability to diagnose complex system issues and apply structured debugging and testing methods.
• Strong communication skills and comfort working with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple support requests and development tasks simultaneously.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting order management, supply chain, fulfillment, or ERP systems.
• Background in system modernization projects or integration of legacy code with contemporary platforms.
• Familiarity with .NET technologies beyond the COBOL emulator (C#, services, infrastructure) – a plus, not required.
• Understanding of publishing industry and supply chain workflows – a plus, not required.

Remote Opportunity

Although we are based in NYC, we are open to reviewing applications from candidates seeking a fully remote opportunity.