Mainframe Lead Software Engineer

JPMorganChase; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

JPMorganChase is seeking a Lead Software Engineer in Columbus, OH, within Consumer & Community Banking Mainframe. You will be a core technical contributor delivering secure, scalable software across multiple business functions, while guiding agile teams.

You will drive modernization efforts from mainframe to cloud-native tech, ensure code quality through AI-assisted reviews, and mentor junior engineers in a fast-paced environment. The role emphasizes secure, resilient software delivery.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience including design, development, testing, and operational stability
• Experience leading adoption of AI-assisted development tools and process
• Understanding of responsible AI use in engineering workflows and secure handling of data

Responsibilities

• Develop secure, high-quality production code and review others' code
• Lead modernization from Mainframe to cloud-native technologies
• Drive AI-assisted engineering practices to improve code quality and delivery speed
• Plan, execute, and contribute to architectural design reviews
• Mentor junior engineers and lead cross-functional team efforts
• Collaborate on product roadmap execution

Skills

Mainframe experience

AI-assisted development

CI/CD

Security and resiliency

Cloud native

Architecture disciplines

Leadership

JCL/CICS/VSM/COBOL

TCP/IP messaging

Java or modern languages

Education

Formal training in software engineering

Tools

xpeditor

ZEKE

File Aid

Changeman

AbendAid

Job description

We have an opportunity to impact your career and provide an adventure where you can push the limits of what's possible.

As a Lead Software Engineer at JPMorganChase within the Consumer & Community Banking Mainframe team, you are an integral part of an agile team that works to enhance, build, and deliver trusted market-leading technology products in a secure, stable, and scalable way. As a core technical contributor, you are responsible for conducting critical technology solutions across multiple technical areas within various business functions in support of the firm’s business objectives.

Job responsibilities

• Executes creative software solutions, design, development, and technical troubleshooting with ability to think beyond routine or conventional approaches to build solutions or breakdown technical problems
• Develops secure and high-quality production code, and reviews and debugs code written by others
• Drives team adoption of enterprise-authorized AI-assisted engineering practices within the work environment to improve code quality, delivery speed, and operational outcomes (e.g., AI-assisted code review/refactoring, test strategy acceleration, incident/root-cause analysis support), while establishing consistent validation standards (secure coding, peer review, automated testing) and promoting reuse of effective patterns across the team.
• Applies knowledge of tools within the Software Development Life Cycle toolchain, including enterprise-authorized AI-assisted development and automation capabilities, to improve the value realized by automation.
• Identifies opportunities to eliminate or automate remediation of recurring issues to improve overall operational stability of software applications and systems
• Leads evaluation sessions with external vendors, startups, and internal teams to drive outcomes-oriented probing of architectural designs, technical credentials, and applicability for use within existing systems and information architecture
• Plan and execute on the modernization initiatives to migrate from Mainframe to cloud native technologies
• Deliver business objectives on the current Mainframe platform
• Leading and motivating a team of software engineers
• Collaborating on a cross-functional team to execute against product roadmap

Required qualifications, capabilities, and skills

• Formal training or certification on software engineering concepts and 5+ years applied experience
  Hands‑on practical experience delivering system design, application development, testing, and operational stability
• Demonstrated experience leading effective use of approved AI-assisted software development tools (e.g., for coding, code review, test acceleration, troubleshooting) with the ability to set team expectations for validating AI outputs for correctness, performance, and security.
• Strong understanding of responsible AI use in engineering workflows, including data sensitivity considerations, secure handling of inputs/outputs, and adherence to resiliency and security expectations; experience coaching engineers on safe, compliant adoption within delivery practices
• Proficient in all aspects of the Software Development Life Cycle
• Advanced understanding of agile methodologies such as CI/CD, Application Resiliency, and Security
• Practical cloud native experience
• Expertise in application, data, and infrastructure architecture disciplines
• Experience with Architectural patterns for Scalability, High Availability, Performance & Disaster Recovery
• 7+ years technical experience with mainframe based applications built with COBOL, VSAM, CICS, JCL, MQ along with TCP/IP messaging.
• Strong experience on mainframe tools and utilities like xpeditor, ZEKE, File Aid, Changeman and AbendAid
• Experience successfully leading and mentoring varying levels of junior Software Engineers

Preferred qualifications, capabilities, and skills

• Experience with Java (or other modern languages) in an Agile environment on large implementations
• Experience with AWS