Senior COBOL Developer

Luxoft Germany; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Luxoft is seeking an experienced Senior COBOL Developer with deep mainframe expertise to own the design, modernization, and maintenance of large-scale legacy systems in Life Insurance and Pensions domains. The role includes end-to-end ownership of batch and online applications, and collaboration with business analysts and stakeholders.

You will reverse engineer complex legacy logic, ensure high performance and stability, and provide L2/L3 production support while guiding junior developers and

Qualifications

• COBOL (Batch & Online); mainframe development and support.
• CICS, JCL, DB2 and IMS for enterprise-scale systems.
• VSAM and file handling; abend analysis and production support best practices.
• Batch and online production support, performance tuning and defects.
• Domain knowledge in Life Insurance and Pensions preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, enhance, and maintain COBOL applications (Batch and Online).
• Work with CICS, JCL, DB2, IMS to support enterprise systems.
• Provide L2/L3 production support for batch jobs and online transactions.
• Analyze abends, data inconsistencies, and performance bottlenecks.
• Mentor junior developers and participate in code reviews.
• Lead modernization and reverse engineering of legacy code.

Skills

COBOL

CICS

JCL

DB2

IMS

VSAM

Batch & Online COBOL

Tools

CA-7

Control-M

Job description

Project description

We are seeking an experienced Senior COBOL Developer with deep expertise in mainframe technologies to design, maintain, and modernize large-scale legacy systems. The role involves end-to-end ownership of batch and online applications, reverse engineering complex legacy logic, resolving production issues, and ensuring high performance, stability, and business continuity. Strong business understanding—especially in Life Insurance and Pensions domains—is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

• Application Development & Maintenance
• Design, develop, enhance, and maintain COBOL applications (Batch and Online).
• Work extensively with CICS, JCL, DB2, and IMS to support enterprise-scale systems.
• Ensure adherence to coding standards, security practices, and mainframe best practices.
• Perform impact analysis and effort estimation for enhancements and defect fixes.Batch & Online Production Support
• Provide L2/L3 production support for batch jobs and online transactions.
• Analyze and resolve abend issues, data inconsistencies, and performance bottlenecks.
• Handle high-priority incidents with minimal turnaround time and root cause analysis.
• Coordinate with infrastructure, DBAs, and operations teams during production issues.Legacy Code Analysis & Reverse Engineering
• Reverse engineer complex and undocumented legacy logic to understand business rules.
• Modernize, refactor, or optimize existing code while preserving business behavior.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, flow diagrams, and decision logic.Business & Domain Collaboration
• Work closely with business analysts and stakeholders to clarify requirements.
• Translate business requirements into technical designs and solutions.
• Apply strong domain knowledge (Life Insurance / Pensions) to ensure correct implementation of regulatory, policy, and financial rules.
• Support audits, compliance checks, and regulatory-driven changes.Performance Tuning & Non‑Functional Quality
• Identify and resolve performance issues in batch and online environments.
• Tune SQL queries, DB2 access paths, and file processing logic.
• Handle non-functional defects related to performance, scalability, availability, and resilience.
• Support system upgrades, migrations, or mainframe modernization initiatives.Mentorship & Technical Leadership
• Act as a technical SME for mainframe systems and legacy applications.
• Mentor junior developers and reviewers on COBOL, JCL, DB2, and CICS.
• Lead code reviews and knowledge transfer sessions.
• Provide inputs to architecture decisions and modernization roadmaps.

SKILLS

Must have

• Required Technical Skills:
• Languages / Technologies:o COBOL (Batch & Online)o CICSo JCLo DB2o IMS (DB / DC)
• Mainframe Concepts:o VSAM, File handlingo Abend analysiso Job scheduling and batch cycleso Online transaction processing
• Debugging & Support:o Batch and online troubleshootingo Root cause analysiso Production support best practices
• Performance & Quality:o SQL tuning (DB2)o Program and job optimizationo Non-functional defect resolutionDomain & Functional Skills:
• Strong understanding of business processes and workflows
• Life Insurance & Pensions domain knowledge is highly preferred:o Policy administrationo Premiums, claims, annuities, and payoutso Regulatory and compliance-driven logicSoft Skills:
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work with minimal documentation
• Excellent communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Ownership mindset and accountability in production environments
• Ability to work independently and lead small technical teams

Nice to have

Experience with legacy modernization initiatives Exposure to Agile / DevOps practices in mainframe environments Experience working with offshore/onshore teams Knowledge of scheduling tools (e.g., CA-7, Control-M)