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Lead Mainframe Modernization Consultant

Not Disclosed

Job Description & Details

The gig is a senior‑level contract to lead a client’s mainframe modernization push. You’ll be the bridge between legacy COBOL crews and the cloud‑native tooling they’re trying to adopt, and the client expects you to own the end‑to‑end assessment and migration roadmap.

What You'll Actually Be Doing

You’ll start by auditing the existing mainframe estate – pulling JCL, CICS transaction maps, DB2 schemas, VSAM layouts, and any assembler routines. From there you’ll craft a phased migration plan that mixes re‑hosting on AWS/Azure/GCP, code conversion with Micro Focus or BluAge, and selective rewrites using AI‑assisted generators. You’ll run workshops with the client’s ops teams, set up CI/CD pipelines for the new containerized workloads, and keep senior stakeholders updated on risk, cost, and timeline.

The Core Tech Stack

The role is all about deep COBOL/JCL knowledge plus hands‑on experience with modern conversion platforms (Micro Focus, BluAge, Heirloom) and their AI extensions. You also need to be comfortable on the cloud side – provisioning VMs or managed services on AWS/Azure/GCP, and wiring those into Docker/Kubernetes pipelines. The hiring side wants to see you can translate legacy batch jobs into containerized micro‑services while still honoring the transactional guarantees of CICS and DB2.

Interview Expectations

  1. “Walk me through how you’d convert a CICS transaction that touches a DB2 table into a cloud‑native service. What tooling would you pick and why?” – They’re looking for a concrete migration pattern, tool choice justification, and awareness of data consistency.
  2. “Explain a situation where an AI‑generated COBOL snippet failed in production. How did you debug it and what safeguards would you put in place?” – Expect you to discuss validation pipelines, unit testing of generated code, and rollback strategies.

Application Advice

Tailor your resume to shout out the exact buzzwords: COBOL, JCL, CICS, DB2, VSAM, Assembler, Micro Focus, BluAge, Heirloom, AWS/Azure/GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, DevOps. Highlight any past C‑to‑cloud assessments you led, especially if you managed a team. Use action verbs like led, architected, modernized and quantify outcomes (e.g., “Reduced batch processing time by 30% after migration”). A short cover note that references the “lead mainframe modernization assessment” will help you get past the ATS.