CICS Systems Programmer

Vaco Recruiter Services; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

401(k) retirement plan

Job summary

Vaco Recruiter Services seeks a Senior Systems Engineer III – CICS Systems Programmer to ensure mainframe reliability, performance, and documentation across server OS, hardware, and software. You will troubleshoot issues, configure systems, support patches, and maintain audit and disaster recovery documentation.

The role emphasizes strong CICS/DW mainframe knowledge, capacity planning, and mentoring entry‑level staff, with collaboration across teams and stakeholders to ensure availability.

Qualifications

• Seven years of experience in system administration, mainframe programming, storage, or related fields.
• Alternative: a bachelor’s degree plus five years in related areas.
• Strong logical reasoning, problem‑solving, and analytical skills.
• Ability to translate complex tech concepts for others.
• Experience working with cross‑functional teams, users, and management.
• Ability to ensure software/hardware functionality, performance, and availability.
• Willingness to mentor entry‑level staff.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and monitor usage, performance, and resources for systems.
• Troubleshoot day‑to‑day issues on assigned platforms.
• Develop, configure, document, and modify system configurations.
• Support patching and version maintenance activities.
• Schedule testing and document audit and disaster recovery data.
• Maintain technical docs for software, hardware, and tools.
• Participate in audit, DR practices, and root‑cause analysis.
• Perform capacity planning and performance tuning.
• Mentor junior staff on operations and system management.

Skills

Troubleshooting

Documentation

Disaster recovery

Capacity planning

Root cause analysis

Mentoring

Communication

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT or related field

Advanced mainframe certifications

Tools

SMP/E

CICS Plex

DB2

MQ

REXX

JCL

COBOL

Python

Ansible

BMC tools

Job description

Senior Systems Engineer III – CICS Systems Programmer

Overview

We are seeking a Senior Systems Engineer III – CICS Systems Programmer to support the integrity, performance, configuration, documentation, and reliability of server operating systems, hardware, storage, and/or application software within an assigned area of responsibility.

This role is well suited for someone with strong mainframe, systems programming, troubleshooting, documentation, audit, disaster recovery, and performance management experience.

Primary Responsibilities

• Maintain and monitor usage, performance, and resources for assigned systems, hardware, storage, and/or application software.
• Troubleshoot day-to-day technical issues related to assigned systems and platforms.
• Develop, configure, customize, document, and modify system configurations.
• Support patching and version maintenance activities.
• Schedule testing and maintain documentation related to audit requirements and disaster recovery planning.
• Maintain technical documentation for assigned software, hardware management tools, and appliances.
• Participate in audit and disaster recovery practices and activities.
• Participate in root‑cause problem analysis across technology and business areas as needed.
• Perform capacity planning and performance tuning activities for assigned areas of responsibility.
• Assist in developing entry‑level personnel through mentoring, technical training, and related support.

Required Qualifications

• Seven years of experience in one or more of the following areas: system administration on Windows, Unix, or another distributed platform; systems programming on a mainframe platform; storage management within a large SAN environment; software development; internal audit; or information security.
• In lieu of seven years of experience, a bachelor's degree and five years of experience in one or more of the same areas is acceptable.
• Experienced demonstrating strong logical reasoning, problem‑solving, and analytical skills.
• Ability to translate technical knowledge in a way that supports another person's understanding.
• Experience working with team members, team leads, end users, business partners, and management during day‑to‑day operations and project‑based activities.
• Ability to help ensure software and hardware functionality, performance, and availability.
• Willingness to develop and train entry‑level staff on operational and systems management tasks related to the area of expertise.
• Experience managing day‑to‑day operational workload and assigned projects within established deadlines and timeframes.
• Organizational skills to work with vendors and notify management and team members of pending patches, upgrades, and functionality enhancements.
• Experience maintaining and monitoring usage, performance, and resources while troubleshooting day‑to‑day issues.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience documenting initial system configuration, change management, audit, disaster recovery, and business continuity information while keeping required system documentation up to date.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in IT or related field.
• Advanced‑level certification in mainframe, Db2 database, network, UNIX/Linux, or storage designations in a systems engineering track.
• Experience leading mid‑scale IT infrastructure projects.
• Experience working in an IBM z/OS mainframe environment.
• Knowledge of CICS architecture, internal interfaces, and resource management.
• CICS systems programming experience.
• SMP/E experience.
• CICS Plex configuration and management experience.
• Understanding of common mainframe utilities and programming languages such as COBOL, JCL, SQL, and REXX.
• Performance and capacity management experience using BMC tools.
• CICS application programming experience.
• Familiarity with other core mainframe products such as Db2 and MQ.
• BMC tools support experience, including installation, configuration, and maintenance.
• Automation development experience using languages and tools such as REXX, Python, YAML, and Ansible.

Ideal Candidate

• Experienced in supporting complex systems environments with a focus on reliability, performance, and availability.
• Comfortable troubleshooting operational issues and participating in root‑cause analysis.
• Strong documentation habits across configuration, change management, audit, disaster recovery, and business continuity activities.
• Able to work with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders across day‑to‑day operations and project work.
• Interested in mentoring and helping entry‑level staff grow technically.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary range will be disclosed per local law. Eligible for discretionary bonuses. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, and a 401(k) retirement plan.