Senior Mainframe Developer – Job Description:
Job Summary:
We are seeking an experienced Senior Mainframe Developer to design, develop, maintain, and enhance enterprise mainframe applications. The ideal candidate will have strong experience with IBM mainframe technologies, COBOL programming, JCL, DB2, CICS, and batch processing. The candidate will work closely with business analysts, architects, QA teams, and production support teams to deliver reliable, scalable, and high-performance solutions.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design, develop, test, and maintain mainframe applications using COBOL, JCL, DB2, and CICS.
- Analyze business requirements and translate them into technical specifications.
- Develop and optimize batch processing jobs and online transaction processing systems.
- Write and maintain SQL queries, stored procedures, and DB2 database objects.
- Troubleshoot production issues, perform root-cause analysis, and implement permanent fixes.
- Optimize application performance, system reliability, and resource utilization.
- Participate in code reviews, unit testing, integration testing, and deployment activities.
- Maintain technical documentation, application specifications, and operational procedures.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to support system enhancements and modernization initiatives.
- Ensure compliance with security standards, coding guidelines, and change-management procedures.
- Mentor junior developers and provide technical guidance to the development team.
Required Technical Skills:
- Database: IBM DB2, SQL, database performance tuning.
- Online processing: CICS, transaction processing.
- Utilities: SORT, DFSORT, IDCAMS, File-AID.
- Version control and change management: Endevor, Changeman, or Git.
- Testing and debugging: Abend-AID, Fault Analyzer, debugging tools.
- Strong understanding of batch scheduling, job dependencies, and production support.
- Experience with mainframe application development lifecycle and release management.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Typically 12+ years of mainframe development experience.
- Extensive hands-on experience with COBOL, JCL, DB2, and CICS.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and troubleshooting skills.
- Excellent communication and collaboration abilities.
- Experience working in Agile or other structured software development environments.
Preferred Skills:
- Experience with mainframe modernization and cloud migration projects.
- Knowledge of REST APIs, web services, and mainframe integration.
- Familiarity with VSAM files, MQ, and RACF security.
- Experience in banking, insurance, healthcare, or other enterprise environments.
- Knowledge of performance monitoring, disaster recovery, and high-availability systems.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
- Application stability and production availability.
- Successful and timely delivery of development tasks.
- Reduction in production defects and recurring incidents.
- Batch job completion rates and processing performance.
- Code quality, test coverage, and adherence to standards.
- Timely resolution of critical production issues.