Mainframe Performance Engineer

Russell Tobin; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Part time

Job summary

PrideGlobal is seeking a Mainframe performance and capacity management engineer for a 12-month contract in the Atlanta area. You will monitor real-time z/OS performance, analyze data, and drive capacity planning to ensure mission-critical workloads run efficiently.

You will collaborate with infrastructure, DevOps, and operations teams to tune workloads, surface actionable insights, and support incident prevention. Prior experience with RMF, WLM, and JCL is required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in information systems or a related quantitative field.
• 10+ years of mainframe systems experience with z/OS performance management.
• Experience with JCL, DB2, and mainframe monitoring tools.
• Strong analytical and data visualization skills.

Responsibilities

• Monitor real-time z/OS health across CPU, memory, DASD, and WLM workloads.
• Detect, troubleshoot and resolve resource anomalies and degradation risks.
• Develop performance tuning strategies and capacity planning guidance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams and participate in on-call rotations.
• Migration of performance tooling to Git change management and DevOps pipelines.

Skills

Mainframe performance management

z/OS

RMF

WLM

JCL

DB2

REXX/Python

Data analysis

Excel/PowerPoint

DevOps

Education

Bachelor's degree in information systems, Mathematics, Finance or another quantitative or related subject

Tools

RMF

SmartIS

MICS

Job description

Duration: 12 months contract with possibility of extension or contract to hire.

Job Description

• The Mainframe performance and capacity management engineer will be responsible for real-time mainframe performance monitoring, anomaly detection, and incident prevention to support our mission-critical workloads. You will use your expertise in performance optimization, capacity planning, and data analysis to identify both performance and capacity exceptions, ensuring our mainframe infrastructure operates efficiently and effectively. Leverage advanced tools and your technical expertise to safeguard performance, optimize resources, and enable seamless operations across critical business workloads. Collaborate with infrastructure, DevOps, operations, and application teams to ensure optimal workload behavior, guide performance tuning, and surface insights that drive engineering and business decisions.

Responsibilities

Performance Management and Capacity Planning:

• Monitor real-time z/OS system health and performance across CPU, memory, DASD, and WLM-managed workloads, using tools including RMF, SmartIS, MICS, and other internal tools. Analyze performance data to identify trends, bottlenecks, and potential issues.
• Detect, troubleshoot, and resolve resource anomalies, workload misbehaviors, and degradation risks in production systems. Partner with incident response teams to resolve performance issues quickly and accurately.
• Develop and implement performance tuning strategies by recommending changes to service definitions, dispatching priorities, and workload placement.
• Contribute to capacity planning by forecasting and modeling workload resource demand & capacity requirements.
• Support cost modeling, vendor reporting (SCRT), infrastructure sizing and resource optimization efforts.

Data Analysis:

• Collect and analyze system performance data to generate reports and dashboards.
• Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and develop metrics to track system performance.
• Visualize, summarize and present data findings, recommendations, and methodology to senior leadership, department leadership and enterprise stakeholders (technical and non-technical stakeholders)

Collaboration and Communication:

• Work closely with cross-functional teams, including operations, development, and infrastructure teams.
• Provide technical support and guidance to team members and stakeholders.
• Participate in on-call rotations and provide timely responses to performance and observability issues.
• Participate in migration of performance/capacity tooling to Git change management and DevOps deployment pipelines.

Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in information systems, Mathematics, Finance or another quantitative or related subject
• 10+ years of mainframe systems experience with proficiency in performance management for large, multi-processor, multi-LPAR, Parallel Sysplex environments utilizing z/OS
• Proven experience in mainframe performance monitoring, observability, capacity management, and data analysis.
• Proven experience resolving systems performance problems in real-time via adjustments to WLM and batch initiators.
• Basic understanding of PR/SM.
• Proficiency in Job Control Language (JCL) & DB2
• Proficiency in REXX/Python (plus)
• Advanced user of MS Excel (Charts, Pivot tables, Vlookups, PowerPivot) and PowerPoint for data visualization.
• Experience with mainframe monitoring tools and performance tuning techniques.
• Experience working with large highly transactional datasets to draw insights and create organizational value.
• Experience with DevOps is a plus

Qualifications:

• Strong analytical, problem solving and strategic thinking skills including the ability to prioritize.
• Proficiency in data analysis and creation of dashboards and various visualizations that will provide actionable insights for operations, engineering and management decision making.
• Working knowledge of MS Office suite for management reporting using both PowerPoint and Excel analytical functions
• Comfortable taking information from disparate systems to bring data elements together for meaningful insights
• Analyze and solve business problems at their root, stepping back to understand the broader context.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills.
• Deep expertise with SMF/RMF data, WLM service definitions, and z/OS workload behavior.
• MICS Product & Reporting experience (plus)
• Exhibit good time management skills, independent thinking and decision-making capabilities.
• High sense of urgency and ability to prioritize competing requirements in a fast-paced environment.
• #RTA

For workers in the United States, PrideGlobal and it's affiliates offers eligible employee’s comprehensive healthcare coverage (medical, dental, and vision plans), supplemental coverage (accident insurance, critical illness insurance and hospital indemnity), 401(k)-retirement savings, life & disability insurance, an employee assistance program, legal support, pet insurance and employee discounts with preferred vendors.

PrideGlobal and it's affiliates are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of the race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, reproductive health decision making, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

PrideGlobal and it's affiliates are a Fair Chance employer. We consider all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable state and local Fair Chance laws and ordinances, including, the California Fair Chance Act and all applicable local Fair Chance ordinances.

Accommodations

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application or interview process, or to perform the essential functions of this role, please contact us.

Only applicable for San Francisco Candidates:

Under the San Francisco Lactation in the Workplace Ordinance, we will provide written notice of lactation accommodation rights, and this notice will automatically be given upon hiring, any inquiry of parental leave or lactation accommodation.

Only applicable for Kentucky positions:

For this type of employment, state law requires a criminal record check as a condition of employment. This applies to direct care staff (Examples: RN, LPN, Nurse Aides, Therapists) referred to Kentucky nursing facilities, assisted living communities, or long-term care facilities, in accordance with KRS 216.793.