Principal Mainframe Z/OS System Programmer

We are seeking an accomplished and innovative Mainframe z/OS Systems Programmer(IC4) to drive strategy, architecture, and hands-on excellence within our enterprise mainframe environments. In this senior individual contributor role, you will be a technical authority, leading the design, integration, and optimization of z/OS systems and related technologies across complex, high-availability environments. You will shape roadmap decisions, mentor team members, and serve as a strategic advisor to technical leadership and key customers.

Key Responsibilities:

·        Provide technical leadership and strategic direction for the design, implementation, migration, and continuous improvement of enterprise-scale z/OS environments and their subsystems.

·        Serve as a domain expert for critical mainframe technologies: influencing architecture, security, automation, high availability/disaster recovery, and performance strategies.

·        Lead and oversee complex system and software upgrades, integrations, and conversions, ensuring zero/minimal downtime for mission-critical workloads.

·        Architect and optimize storage management, system tuning, and capacity planning, proactively identifying performance bottlenecks and inefficiencies.

·        Define and enforce enterprise-wide standards, processes, and policies for mainframe system management in alignment with business and compliance objectives.

·        Mentor and coach other systems programmers, fostering technical growth and succession planning within the organization.

·        Drive cross-team collaborations (application, infrastructure, security, business continuity) and provide thought leadership in technical forums.

·        Shape and execute automation, monitoring, and recovery strategies-using advanced scripting (JCL , Assembler, CLIST) and orchestration tools.

·        Champion the adoption of new tools, technologies, and innovative practices within the mainframe ecosystem.

·        Lead root cause analysis for major system incidents, providing executive-level summaries and continuous improvement recommendations.

·        Responsible for all the IBM operating systems and all 3rd party software running on these mainframes are kept at supported levels.  Perform upgrades as necessary.

·        Act as a senior point of contact for complex customer escalations, project planning, and external vendor/partner engagements.