Cobol Development Lead
Role Overview: We are seeking a Senior AS400 and Unisys Mainframe Developer to lead the design, development, and maintenance of mission-critical financial applications. You will collaborate with Product Owners, Solution Architects, Client Services, Operations, and Scrum teams to deliver high-quality solutions while providing technical leadership, mentoring developers, and managing complex projects from end to end.
Key Responsibilities:
- Development & Support:
- Design, develop, and maintain applications on AS400 and Unisys A-Series mainframe platforms
- Work on end-to-end feature development and resolve critical/high severity production defects
- Provide technical support and troubleshooting for production issues
- Respond to and resolve incidents within defined SLAs alongside SMEs and technical staff
- Write, review, analyze, code, test, and debug application programs
- Leadership & Project Management:
- Lead and mentor a team of developers, providing technical guidance and support
- Plan, track, and report on project progress ensuring timely delivery
- Manage project risks, issues, and develop mitigation strategies
- Collaborate with business analysts and stakeholders to gather requirements and translate them into technical specifications
- Collaboration & Quality:
- Work with operations teams to solve implementation challenges
- Collaborate with front-end development teams to build integrated solutions
- Ensure applications meet performance, reliability, and security requirements
- Participate in daily/weekly stand-ups, code reviews, sprint planning, and product demos
- Adhere to platform architecture, coding standards, and Agile best practices
- Complete assigned development and testing within sprint timelines with high quality
MANDATORY SKILLS:
- 8-10 years of hands-on experience with AS400 Mainframe development using:
- COBOL/400
- CL (Control Language)
- IBM i (iSeries) platform
- 8-10 years of hands-on experience with Unisys A-Series Mainframe using:
- COBOL (COBOL 74/85)
- WFL (Work Flow Language)
- DMS 2200/RDMS database
- Unisys ECL (Executive Control Language)
- Experience designing and developing secure mainframe-based applications
- Strong understanding of full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) using Agile methodologies
- Ability to handle Agile ceremonies (sprint planning, stand-ups, retrospectives)
- Proven ability to work under pressure while resolving critical production issues
- Good leadership skills and experience leading projects end-to-end
- Strong communication skills and experience working with clients
- Good understanding of Banking Domain (payments, clearing & settlement, loan processing)
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent work experience
GOOD TO HAVE SKILLS:
- Modern Development Tools:
- C# programming
- Selenium automation
- Git version control
- JIRA project management
- PowerShell scripting
- DevOps practices and tools (CI/CD pipelines, Jenkins)
- Testing expertise in mainframe environments:
- Software Test Life Cycle (STLC)
- Test strategy and test planning
- Test case design and test data setup
- Defect management
- Experience with Unisys ClearPath or OS 2200 systems
- Knowledge of DB2, JCL, CICS, VSAM in mainframe environments
- Experience with high-volume transaction processing
- Familiarity with monitoring tools (SYSVIEW, Splunk, Dynatrace)
- Experience with batch and online processing
- Understanding of financial services applications (credit cards, ACH processing, student loans)
Work Environment:
- Agile/Scrum team environment with global stakeholders
- Lead technical initiatives on mission-critical financial systems processing millions of transactions daily
- On-call support for critical production incidents required
- Opportunity to mentor and develop team members
Key Differentiators for This Senior/Lead Role:
- Technical leadership and team mentoring responsibilities
- Project management and risk mitigation
- Client-facing communication and stakeholder management
- Ability to work independently and guide others through complex technical challenges
