Senior Software Engineer – IMS TM/DB Application Programmer

Rocket Companies

2d•Remote

About The Position

We are seeking an accomplished Senior Software Engineer with deep expertise in IBM IMS™ Transaction Manager (TM) and Database (DB) application programming to drive the evolution of our IMS compatible technologies within our Enterprise modernization platform. This role is ideal for someone who has spent years building, maintaining, or optimizing IMS based applications on the mainframe and now wants to bring that domain knowledge into next generation tooling, runtimes, and replatforming solutions. As a senior software engineer, you will provide architectural leadership, guide design of IMS compatible features, and translate complex mainframe concepts into a robust, performant implementation for distributed and cloud-based environments. This role sits at the heart of our mission to modernize long-established, mission‑critical enterprise applications and to deliver stable, high-performance infrastructure relied on by global enterprises. Architect & Build IMS TM/DB-Compatible Technologies Contribute to the design and development of key components that replicate or extend IMS TM and DB behaviors—including message handling, transaction scheduling, PSB/DBD structures, DL/I call compatibility, and hierarchical database semantics. Define and evolve architectural direction for our IMS replatforming runtime, ensuring parity with core IMS concepts where required and embracing modernization opportunities where beneficial. Translate IMS internals and application programming patterns into scalable, reliable components on distributed systems. Apply Deep IMS Domain Expertise Model real-world IMS application scenarios (batch and online) within our modernization stack. Provide authoritative guidance on IMS constructs such as: Message queues, scheduling, and transaction regions DBD/PSB design and access paths DL/I call flows, PCB handling, segment structure, and hierarchical locking IMS batch processing interactions with TM and DB Partner with product and engineering leadership to ensure features meet enterprise-grade reliability and performance expectations. Technical Leadership Contribute to cross-team engineering initiatives that impact compilers, runtimes, integration layers, and interoperability features. Mentor engineers across teams, helping them understand IMS fundamentals and how those concepts should surface in our implementation. Conduct deep technical reviews, troubleshoot complex runtime compatibility issues, and guide performance tuning strategies. Cross-Functional Collaboration Influence product roadmap decisions related to IMS replatforming, compatibility, and modernization. Engage with customers, field engineering, and support teams to understand real‑world IMS workloads and migration scenarios.

Requirements

10+ years of professional software engineering, including senior‑level ownership of complex system-level components.
Direct hands-on experience developing or maintaining IMS TM and DB applications on IBM z/OS (essential).
Deep knowledge of: IMS message-driven architecture Program specification blocks (PSBs), program communication blocks (PCBs), and DBD structures DL/I calls and hierarchical database access IMS transaction scheduling and message queue behavior
Strong proficiency in C, C++, or similar systems languages.
Experience delivering high-availability, mission-critical software systems.

Nice To Haves

Background implementing or working with IMS exit routines, user exits, scheduling exits, or database utilities.
Experience with mainframe modernization, replatforming, or emulation technologies.
Familiarity with COBOL or PL/I application semantics and interactions with IMS environments.
Exposure to modern distributed systems, cloud-native design, or hybrid runtime architectures (Azure, AWS, Kubernetes).
Experience building compilers, runtimes, interpreters, or compatibility layers for legacy workloads.