COBOL Mainframe Developer

Techstra Solutions•Pittsburgh, PA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior COBOL Developer to join our technology team at a large retail bank. This role is primarily focused on hands-on development and enhancement of mission-critical mainframe applications supporting core banking operations. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in COBOL, CICS, and DB2, along with a strong understanding of high-volume transactional systems. This individual will play a key role in modernizing and maintaining legacy systems while ensuring stability, performance, and regulatory compliance. This is a one-year contract-to-hire opportunity, with the intent to convert qualified candidates into full-time employees. Because this is a contract-to-hire role with permanent hiring goals, candidates requiring visa sponsorship or who are not eligible for permanent employment cannot be considered.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Systems, Finance, Healthcare Administration, or related field.
10+ years of experience in mainframe application development
Strong proficiency in: COBOL, CICS, DB2 (SQL, stored procedures, performance tuning)
Operating systems: IBM z/OS, AIX
Mainframe: COBOL, CICS, DB2, JCL, VSAM, TSO/ISPF, Easytrieve, Endevor, CA7, Control M, BMC AMI DevX Code Pipeline
Relational databases: DB2, Oracle
Experience working in large-scale enterprise or banking environments
Solid understanding of batch and online processing frameworks
Proven ability to troubleshoot complex production issues
Strong communication skills with the ability to work across technical and business teams
Strong experience in COBOL development in a mainframe environment.
Hands-on experience with mainframe technologies and legacy enterprise systems.
Proven ability to support and enhance mission-critical applications in a regulated or large-scale enterprise environment.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to work effectively in a collaborative team setting while also operating independently when needed.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills for internal technical collaboration.

Nice To Haves

Banking domain expertise especially ACH/Payments domains.
Experience with Fiserv integrations
Familiarity with ZEOS Connect API development
Exposure to modernization efforts (e.g., API enablement, mainframe integration strategies)

Responsibilities

Design, develop, test, and maintain mainframe applications using COBOL, CICS, and DB2
Support high-volume, mission-critical banking systems with a focus on performance and reliability
Analyze business and technical requirements to deliver scalable and efficient solutions
Perform code reviews, debugging, and performance tuning of existing applications
Collaborate with business analysts, architects, and cross-functional teams to translate requirements into technical solutions
Participate in release management, deployment activities, and production support as needed
Ensure adherence to enterprise standards, security protocols, and regulatory requirements
Document technical designs, processes, and system changes
Support ACH solution engineering and mainframe application development efforts in a banking environment.
Design, enhance, maintain, and troubleshoot COBOL-based mainframe applications.
Work closely with technical teams and business stakeholders to support enterprise payment processing solutions.
Analyze existing legacy system functionality and implement enhancements or fixes as needed.
Participate in code reviews, testing, debugging, and production support activities.
Assist in modernization and retirement-transition efforts as institutional knowledge is transitioned from legacy team members.
Collaborate with internal engineering and delivery teams to ensure stable, scalable, and compliant system solutions.
Contribute to future-state planning as additional retirement-driven openings become available.