Senior CICS Infrastructure Solutions Engineer

Allstate • McCullom Lake, IL

20h

About The Position

At Allstate, great things happen when our people work together to protect families and their belongings from life’s uncertainties. And for more than 90 years, our innovative drive has kept us a step ahead of our customers’ evolving needs. From advocating for seat belts, air bags and graduated driving laws, to being an industry leader in pricing sophistication, telematics, and, more recently, device and identity protection. Job Description We are seeking a Senior CICS Infrastructure Solutions Engineer with hands-on mainframe experience to lead, support, and modernize enterprise CICS environments. This role is deeply infrastructure-focused and responsible for the stability, performance, scalability, and modernization of mission-critical transaction systems. The ideal candidate is a seasoned CICS systems engineer who understands both the traditional strengths of CICS, and its evolution into a modern API-enabled platform. The internal Allstate job is Infrastructure Solutions Engineer Lead Consultant. CICS Infrastructure & Operations Install, configure, upgrade, and maintain CICS/TS across multiple LPARs and environments (DEV/TEST/QA/PROD). Design and manage CICS regions, TORs, AORs, FORs, and associated coupling facility structures. Own high availability, resiliency, and disaster recovery strategies for CICS environments. Perform CICS capacity planning, performance tuning, and MIPS optimization. Troubleshoot complex CICS issues including storage violations, Abend analysis, region hangs, and performance degradation. Systems Integration & Middleware Integrate CICS with z/OS Connect, MQ, DB2, IMS, and distributed platforms. Support API enablement, SOAP-to-REST modernization, and transaction exposure for digital consumers. Ensure secure connectivity using RACF, TLS, certificates, and network controls. Automation, Modernization & Lifecycle Drive automation using SMP/E, REXX, JCL, Ansible, or vendor tooling. Reduce technical debt through proactive upgrades, feature enablement, and decommissioning of unused components. Partner with application teams to modernize legacy interfaces while preserving system integrity. Governance & Collaboration Provide senior-level guidance to application teams, operations, and architecture groups. Participate in change management, incident reviews, root cause analysis, and audit support. Create and maintain runbooks, standards, and infrastructure documentation. Act as a technical mentor for junior engineers and offshore/onshore partners. Essential Qualifications A minimum of 5 years CICS Systems Programming experience in large-scale enterprise environments including installation, maintenance and configuration of the product. Availability for on-call support the successful candidate will be part of the escalation path for out-of-hours on-call support. A minimum of 5 years’ experience with z/OS systems, (JES, SMF, WLM, SMP/E etc.) Performance tuning and problem determination Desirable Qualifications Prior leadership / team leader experience Experience of configuring z/OS Connect Familiarity with CPSM Exposure to MQ, z/OS Connect, and mainframe networking concepts. Some experience in Programming/Scripting tools such as COBOL, REXX, Python etc. Exposure supporting 24x7, high-volume transaction systems. What This Role Is: Deeply technical and hands-on Infrastructure and platform focused Strategic, not just operational Critical to enterprise stability and modernization What This Role Is Not: Application development Primarily batch or COBOL focused #LI-MF1

Requirements

• A minimum of 5 years CICS Systems Programming experience in large-scale enterprise environments including installation, maintenance and configuration of the product.
• Availability for on-call support the successful candidate will be part of the escalation path for out-of-hours on-call support.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience with z/OS systems, (JES, SMF, WLM, SMP/E etc.)
• Performance tuning and problem determination

Nice To Haves

• Prior leadership / team leader experience
• Experience of configuring z/OS Connect
• Familiarity with CPSM
• Exposure to MQ, z/OS Connect, and mainframe networking concepts.
• Some experience in Programming/Scripting tools such as COBOL, REXX, Python etc.
• Exposure supporting 24x7, high-volume transaction systems.

Responsibilities

• Install, configure, upgrade, and maintain CICS/TS across multiple LPARs and environments (DEV/TEST/QA/PROD).
• Design and manage CICS regions, TORs, AORs, FORs, and associated coupling facility structures.
• Own high availability, resiliency, and disaster recovery strategies for CICS environments.
• Perform CICS capacity planning, performance tuning, and MIPS optimization.
• Troubleshoot complex CICS issues including storage violations, Abend analysis, region hangs, and performance degradation.
• Integrate CICS with z/OS Connect, MQ, DB2, IMS, and distributed platforms.
• Support API enablement, SOAP-to-REST modernization, and transaction exposure for digital consumers.
• Ensure secure connectivity using RACF, TLS, certificates, and network controls.
• Drive automation using SMP/E, REXX, JCL, Ansible, or vendor tooling.
• Reduce technical debt through proactive upgrades, feature enablement, and decommissioning of unused components.
• Partner with application teams to modernize legacy interfaces while preserving system integrity.
• Provide senior-level guidance to application teams, operations, and architecture groups.
• Participate in change management, incident reviews, root cause analysis, and audit support.
• Create and maintain runbooks, standards, and infrastructure documentation.
• Act as a technical mentor for junior engineers and offshore/onshore partners.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed