Senior Mainframe Developer

Experience: 8+ Years
Job Type: Contract
Location: Dallas / Minneapolis

Job Summary:

We are seeking an experienced Senior Mainframe Developer with 8+ years of hands-on experience in mainframe application development, maintenance, and production support. The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in COBOL, JCL, DB2, CICS, and enterprise mainframe environments, with experience working on complex applications and modernization initiatives.

Experience with AI, automation, or intelligent tools is highly desirable and will be a plus.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, enhance, and maintain applications on IBM Mainframe environments.
• Develop and maintain COBOL programs, JCL jobs, DB2 queries/stored procedures, and CICS transactions.
• Analyze business and technical requirements and translate them into effective technical solutions.
• Perform application troubleshooting, debugging, impact analysis, and production support.
• Participate in application enhancements, system integrations, migrations, and modernization initiatives.
• Conduct unit testing, integration testing, code reviews, and defect resolution.
• Analyze application performance and recommend improvements.
• Prepare technical documentation and support knowledge-transfer activities.
• Collaborate with business analysts, architects, developers, QA teams, and other stakeholders.
• Support batch processing, scheduling, job monitoring, and production releases.
• Identify opportunities to improve development and support processes through automation and AI-enabled solutions.

Required Skills:

• 8+ years of professional experience in Mainframe Development.
• Strong hands-on experience with:
  • COBOL
  • JCL
  • DB2
  • CICS
  • IBM z/OS
• Experience with mainframe batch and online applications.
• Strong SQL and database development skills.
• Experience with debugging, production support, and performance tuning.
• Good understanding of SDLC, Agile methodologies, and software development best practices.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with Generative AI / AI-assisted development tools.
• Experience using AI tools such as GitHub Copilot or similar coding assistants.
• Experience developing automation scripts/tools to reduce manual development or support activities.
• Knowledge of Mainframe modernization and cloud migration.
• Experience with API integration, REST services, or hybrid mainframe/cloud environments.
• Exposure to Python or other scripting languages for automation.
• Experience using DevOps tools and CI/CD processes for mainframe applications.

Preferred Candidate:

The ideal candidate is a strong Mainframe Developer who can not only maintain and enhance legacy applications but also contribute to modernization, automation, and AI-driven transformation initiatives.