Mainframe Developer

Aquent; Southlake (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Aquent is partnering with a leading financial services organization to drive modernization across legacy mainframe and distributed platforms. The role focuses on architectures and interfaces that enable seamless callouts and migrations, delivering scalable solutions with high quality and performance.

Ideal candidates bring 10+ years in mainframe tech, leadership experience, and a track record of modernizing complex enterprise systems, including AI-enabled productivity enhancements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 10+ years in mainframe tech (COBOL, JCL, DB2, etc.).
• 10+ years as a software developer, with 3+ years in a lead role.
• 3-4 years using Control-M, ChangeMan, FileAid, Xpeditor, TOAD, SPUFI.
• Proven architecture, design, and enterprise system development.
• Experience using AI tools to boost productivity.
• Financial industry knowledge, especially brokerage processing.

Responsibilities

• Architect, design, and implement complex software, focusing on legacy-mainframe interfaces.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to modernize applications.
• Lead solutioning and modernization strategies, including mainframe migration.
• Evaluate legacy systems to improve performance and scalability.
• Develop and maintain automated processes for legacy apps.
• Mentor teams across mainframe and distributed technologies.
• Utilize AI coding tools to boost productivity.
• Ensure timely delivery within deadlines.
• Address obstacles proactively.
• Stay current with AI trends and industry developments.

Skills

Mainframe technologies

COBOL

JCL

DB2

Datacom

SQL

CICS

REXX

Messaging Queues

AI tooling

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering

Tools

Control-M

ChangeMan

FileAid

Xpeditor

TOAD

SPUFI

Job description

Aquent is partnering with a leading financial services organization dedicated to innovation and excellence in the financial industry. This organization plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of financial technology, impacting millions of users through its robust and cutting-edge platforms. Join a team that values forward-thinking solutions and a commitment to high-quality delivery.

Please note: This position is available on a W-2 employment basis only and is not open to Corp-to-Corp (C2C) arrangements. The client is also unable to provide employment-based visa sponsorship or transfers for this role.

About the Role: Drive Modernization and Innovation

What You Will Do

• Architect, design, develop, and implement complex software solutions, specifically focusing on interfaces between legacy mainframe and distributed applications.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deeply understand business requirements and identify prime opportunities for application modernization.
• Lead the solutioning, design, and implementation of comprehensive modernization strategies, including mainframe migration, refactoring, and establishing seamless callouts to distributed platforms.
• Evaluate existing legacy systems to propose and implement solutions that significantly improve performance, scalability, and maintainability.
• Develop and maintain automated processes for legacy applications, ensuring consistency, efficiency, and reliability.
• Actively stay current with emerging technologies and industry trends, particularly those related to legacy application modernization and AI.
• Act as a mentor for technical teams, providing guidance, support, and knowledge sharing to augment skillsets in both Mainframe and Distributed Technologies.
• Utilize AI coding tools and Agentic AI to increase personal and team productivity, fostering a culture of innovation.
• Demonstrate a strong commitment to adhering to project timelines and consistently delivering high-quality results within specified deadlines.
• Proactively address obstacles and challenges to ensure the timely completion of tasks and projects.

What You Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• Strong experience with high-volume transactions processing, particularly within the brokerage domain.
• 10+ years of extensive experience in mainframe technologies, including COBOL, JCL, DB2, Datacom, SQL, SQL Stored Procedures, Messaging Queues (IBM MQ, Kafka), CICS, Easytrieve, REXX, and SORT utilities.
• 10+ years of experience as a software developer, with at least 3+ years in a lead or co-lead role.
• 3-4 years of hands-on experience with tools such as Control-M, ChangeMan, FileAid, Xpeditor, TOAD, and SPUFI.
• Proven track record of participating in the architecture solution, design, and development of complex, enterprise-level software systems.
• Demonstrated experience utilizing AI and AI agents to significantly increase productivity.
• Good knowledge and hands-on experience in the Financial Industry, specifically with Brokerage Business and transactions processing/Balances/Positions.
• Strong understanding of software architecture patterns, design principles, and scalability considerations.
• Excellent problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making skills.
• Effective communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work cross-functionally.
• Experience in mentoring software development teams, including geographically distributed teams.
• Extensive experience with legacy applications modernization.

Nice-to-Haves

• Exposure to Distributed & Cloud technologies (e.g., GCP, Java, Javascript, .NET, C#, Springboot, MongoDB, Cloud, Postgres, etc.) and various AI tools.
• Some experience and familiarity with file transmissions, Cloud environments, Callouts from Mainframe to Distributed services, Security Tokens, and authentication mechanisms.
• Strong preference for experience with high-volume brokerage transactions processing and posting, both batch and real-time.