Mainframe Platform Leader: Modernization & Automation

First Citizens Bank; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

First Citizens Bank in Raleigh, NC seeks a Mainframe Engineering Manager to lead the engineering, automation, reliability, security, and modernization of the enterprise mainframe platform. You will manage a team of mainframe engineers, systems programmers, and platform specialists, driving stability, security, and cost efficiency.

You will partner with application development, cybersecurity, cloud, and infrastructure teams to evolve IBM Z infrastructure, implement SRE/Platform Engineering, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years of IBM Z infrastructure experience.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience.
• Experience leading large-scale modernization initiatives.
• Experience integrating mainframe environments with cloud platforms.
• Technical experience with GDPS and high availability solutions.
• Parallel Sysplex, Metro/Global Mirror, Encryption technologies.
• Cyber resilience and recovery practices.
• Automation & DevOps experience.
• IBM Watson/Frontier AI knowledge.
• Hybrid cloud integration experience.
• Certifications such as IBM Certified System Programmer, IBM Z Professional Certifications, ITIL, CISSP; AWS/Azure Architect preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of Mainframe Systems Engineers, Systems Programmers, and Technical Specialists.
• Define and execute the strategic roadmap for IBM Z infrastructure and related platform services.
• Drive workforce planning, talent development, succession planning, and skills transformation.
• Establish operational excellence metrics and service level objectives (SLOs).
• Manage budgets, vendor relationships, software licensing, and third-party service providers.
• Communicate platform strategy, risks, and opportunities to executive leadership.
• Implement Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Platform Engineering principles.
• Drive operational efficiency through automation and self-service capabilities.
• Lead modernization initiatives integrating mainframe workloads with: Hybrid cloud platforms, API ecosystems, Enterprise integration platforms, Containerized environments.
• Support DevOps and CI/CD practices across distributed and mainframe environments.
• Champion Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and platform automation.
• Evaluate emerging technologies including AIOps, observability, and AI-enabled operations.
• Oversee disaster recovery and business continuity strategies.
• Ensure compliance with RTO and RPO objectives.
• Lead high-availability architecture planning.
• Manage capacity, performance tuning, and workload optimization.
• Conduct root cause analysis for major incidents.

Skills

People leadership

IBM Z infrastructure

Automation & DevOps

Hybrid cloud integration

Security & encryption

Disaster recovery

SRE principles

Cloud platforms

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

High School diploma + 12 years experience

Tools

GDPS

Parallel Sysplex

Metro/Global Mirror

IBM Watson/Frontier AI

Job description

First Citizens Bank in Raleigh, NC seeks a Mainframe Engineering Manager to lead the engineering, automation, reliability, security, and modernization of the enterprise mainframe platform. You will manage a team of mainframe engineers, systems programmers, and platform specialists, driving stability, security, and cost efficiency.

You will partner with application development, cybersecurity, cloud, and infrastructure teams to evolve IBM Z infrastructure, implement SRE/Platform Engineering, and