Senior Software Engineer

Gerber Life Insurance Company; Fremont Township (MI); On-site; USD 113,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Gerber Life Insurance Company in Fremont, MI / White Plains, NY seeks a Senior Software Engineer specialized in Mainframe/COBOL. You will lead hands-on development, modernize legacy systems and collaborate with a 7–10 person team to support millions of policies and service calls.

Ideal candidates have strong COBOL/mainframe expertise, experience with Agile/Scrum, and a track record guiding modernization initiatives while maintaining security and regulatory standards.

Qualifications

• Significant software engineering and change-management experience in life insurance IT.
• Strong COBOL and mainframe policy administration expertise.
• Experience leading COBOL software engineering teams and Agile delivery.

Responsibilities

• Perform hands-on COBOL application development supporting end-to-end life insurance policy administration.
• Collaborate with engineers across a rapid agile software development environment.
• Modernize legacy mainframe applications and help evolve batch processing toward real-time capabilities.
• Integrate policy administration applications with new business, self-service, payments, workflow, document generation, general ledger and reinsurance.
• Own assigned development and production support work from start to finish.
• Lead by example and contribute to an agile, innovative engineering culture.

Skills

COBOL

Mainframe

Policy administration

Agile/Scrum

Technical leadership

Education

Master's degree in Computer Science

Tools

COBOL

CICS

APS

IMS

VSAM

JCL

Docker

Git

Maven

Jenkins

JIRA

Job description

We’re Hiring: Senior Software Engineer – Mainframe/COBOL | Fremont, MI/White Plains, NY

Gerber Life Insurance is looking for an experienced Mainframe/COBOL Software Engineer to help modernize the technology that powers our end-to-end life insurance policy administration environment.

• Onsite – Fremont, Michigan or White Plains, NY
• Mainframe / COBOL Engineering Leadership
• Life Insurance Technology
• Legacy Modernization & Transformation
• Hiring Salary Range: $112,800-$140,000 annually

Location Requirement

This position requires onsite work at our Fremont, MI office. Candidates must be able and willing to work onsite upon starting in the role.

Join Gerber Life Insurance Company — Somewhere You Want to Be

Gerber Life Insurance Company, a member company of Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern), is committed to helping families protect what matters most. With career opportunities in Fremont, MI, and White Plains, NY, and select roles in Cincinnati, OH, Gerber Life Insurance Company offers associates the opportunity to contribute to meaningful work while building rewarding careers.

What You’ll Do: A Day in the Life of a Senior Software Engineer-Mainframe

This is a hands-on individual contributor role for an experienced engineer who understands both legacy mainframe technology and the future of modern policy administration. You'll collaborate with a team of 7–10 engineers using rapid agile development to enhance and modernize applications supporting 3.8 million life insurance policies and approximately 1 million service calls annually. You'll work directly in the technology—developing, modernizing and integrating the systems responsible for product configuration, billing, collections, policy servicing, claims and other critical insurance functions.

What You’ll Lead

• Perform hands-on COBOL application development supporting end-to-end life insurance policy administration
• Collaborate with engineers across a rapid agile software development environment
• Modernize legacy mainframe applications and help evolve batch processing toward real-time capabilities
• Integrate policy administration applications with new business, self-service, payments, workflow, document generation, general ledger, reinsurance and other systems
• Help advance architecture through technologies including DB2, z/OS Connect, IBM MQ and modern web technologies
• Own assigned development and production support work from start to finish
• Manage product and sprint backlogs as needed to deliver software changes
• Estimate new development work and help prioritize technology demand
• Lead by example and contribute to an agile, innovative and solutions-focused engineering culture
• Maintain strong data security, technical and regulatory standards

Technology Environment

Mainframe/Legacy: COBOL, CICS, APS, IMS, VSAM, JCL

DevOps: Docker, Git, Maven, Jenkins, JIRA

Your Qualifications, Skills and Experience

• Significant software engineering and change-management experience
• Strong COBOL and mainframe policy administration expertise
• Experience with end-to-end life insurance technology and policy administration
• Experience leading or providing technical direction to COBOL software engineering teams
• Understanding of both waterfall and Agile/Scrum delivery
• Ability to simplify complex, large-scale system changes and consider total cost of ownership
• Strong agile mindset with a passion for modernization, innovation and continuous integration
• Ability to work autonomously while collaborating effectively across technical and business teams
• Master's degree in Computer Science, or an acceptable combination of education, technical training, certifications and extensive relevant experience

If you're a hands-on COBOL engineer with deep life insurance policy administration experience who wants to help transform legacy technology for the future, we'd like to hear from you.

Why Work for Us

We know people do their best work when they feel valued and are supported. That’s why we offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to help you succeed both at work and at home, including:

• Paid time off increasing with tenure.
• Tuition reimbursement and individualized career development plans.
• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance.
• 401(k) savings plan with pension options.
• Parental leave and maternity leave.

Western & Southern is a Fortune 500® company recognized as one of America’s Best Midsize Employers by Forbes1. Our family of companies has received awards and recognitions for being a top workplace, including gold badges in Growth and Early Career from Where You Work Matters, reflecting a focus on creating opportunities for career development and advancement. We are dedicated to creating opportunities for our associates to grow and succeed.

We also recognize that talent comes from many different backgrounds and experiences. If you're excited about this opportunity but don't meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply.

Our Culture

Gerber Life Insurance Company and Western & Southern share a culture driven by integrity, top-notch performance, teamwork and collaboration. We’re committed to hiring and developing professionals who strive for excellence, demonstrate strong ethics and make fact-based decisions. Our associates are empowered to chase their career dreams while being supported every step of the way.

Gerber Life Insurance Company is not just a place to work — it’s somewhere to grow, lead, win and make a difference in your career and community.