Software Engineer – Mainframe (COBOL/PL1)

State Farm•Dunwoody, GA

2h•Hybrid

About The Position

State Farm is hiring three Software Engineers for different teams within the Fire Suite. The role focuses on developing, maintaining, enhancing, and modernizing business-critical mainframe applications, primarily using COBOL. Engineers translate business requirements into dependable technical solutions, work across interconnected systems and business processes, and help improve software development and delivery through AI, automation, GitLab, and CI/CD practices. The position involves extensive work with IMS and Db2, as well as COBOL programs, JCL jobs, SQL, file processing, batch workflows, and system interfaces. Engineers analyze impacts across programs, data, interfaces, and connected systems; document designs and processing; test and troubleshoot changes; investigate production issues; and support deployments and post-implementation verification. They collaborate with engineers, business partners, and stakeholders while applying Agile and product-management practices. The position is hybrid. Selected candidates are assigned to a facility and work both in the office and from home. For Enterprise Technology, the arrangement will require approximately 40% in-office time each month, beginning in late 2027. Hub locations are Bloomington, Illinois; Richardson, Texas; Tempe, Arizona; and Dunwoody, Georgia. Applicants must be eligible to work lawfully in the United States immediately; State Farm will not sponsor U.S. work authorization for this opportunity.

Requirements

Strong COBOL development experience.
Strong JCL development and troubleshooting skills.
Deep knowledge of IMS and Db2.
Experience with batch scheduling and processing, including Control-M and/or Auto/Fire flow.
Strong knowledge and practical experience using AI tools and techniques for software development and testing.
Experience with Git and IBM Developer for z Systems (IDz).
Proficiency with FM/Db2, FM/IMS, and ISPF/TSO in z/OS environments.
Experience with Agility/VersionOne and applying Agile methodologies and product-management principles.
Strong analytical, coding, debugging, and problem-solving skills.
Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively across technical and business teams.

Nice To Haves

Experience with PL/1.
Experience with REXX scripting, SAS analytics, SPLUNK, IDAA, GitLab, and CI/CD practices.
Business knowledge or previous experience with Fire products, including legacy or web-based products.
Curiosity, collaboration, willingness to investigate complex systems and business processes, and ownership of difficult problems.

Responsibilities

Develop, maintain, and enhance mainframe applications primarily using COBOL.
Translate business requirements into technical solutions, including validation, calculation, transaction-processing, and business-rule logic.
Develop and maintain COBOL programs, JCL jobs, Db2 SQL, file-processing logic, batch workflows, and system interfaces.
Work with IMS and Db2 databases and manage batch scheduling and processing using tools such as Control-M and Auto/Fire flow.
Create technical and component specifications documenting processing, proposed changes, impacted programs, data, interfaces, business rules, error handling, and testing requirements.
Perform impact analysis across programs, copybooks, data elements, records, interfaces, and connected systems.
Conduct unit, integration, negative, boundary, and regression testing; create test transactions and validate processing results.
Review job output, return codes, spool files, database updates, generated transactions, reports, and downstream results for accuracy.
Monitor and troubleshoot batch jobs, transaction errors, abends, missing output, and incorrect processing results.
Investigate production issues, determine root causes, coordinate corrections, and verify successful reprocessing.
Support integrations with upstream and downstream systems and business processes.
Prepare implementation instructions, promote components through test environments, support production deployments, and perform post-implementation verification.
Apply Agile and product-management best practices to assigned work.
Collaborate with engineers, business partners, and stakeholders to solve problems and deliver solutions.
Use AI tools and techniques in development and testing to improve quality, productivity, and problem solving.
Contribute to engineering practice improvements, including GitLab, Git/IDz, CI/CD pipelines, testing, and automation.
Create and maintain technical documentation, component designs, processing flows, implementation details, and testing requirements.

Benefits

Potential yearly incentive pay up to 15% of base salary.
Annual raise and bonus eligibility.
Healthcare plan options, with State Farm paying most of the healthcare premium.
Vision insurance.
Dental insurance.
Telemedicine and access to 24/7 mental health professionals.
Health and wellbeing programs.
Industry-leading training programs.
Tuition assistance.
Employee resource groups and mentoring.
Fertility, IVF, and adoption assistance.
College coaching and national discount programs.
Financial workshops and free financial coaching.
Generous time-off policies, including the opportunity to initially earn up to 20 days annually.
Parental leave and paid holidays.
Celebration day, life leave, bereavement leave, and community service/education support days.
Matching Gift Program, Good Neighbor Grant Program, and Employee Assistance Fund.
Free financial advisors for retirement planning.
401(k) plan with company contributions of up to 7% of salary.