Job Description & Details
This contract is a senior Mainframe development role focused on AI/GenAI extensions. You’ll spend six months on‑site in Berkeley Heights, working on COBOL, JCL, VSAM, DB2 and CICS to keep critical batch and online systems running.
What You'll Actually Be Doing
You’ll take requirements, do impact analysis, then code, unit‑test and document batch programs and online transactions. Expect to troubleshoot production incidents, support integration and UAT, and participate in code and design reviews. The team looks to you to set standards and drive the technical direction.
The Core Tech Stack
The non‑negotiable skills are Enterprise COBOL, JCL, VSAM, DB2 and CICS. The client is modernizing legacy batch flows, so you need to know how to write efficient COBOL with proper file handling, manage CICS transaction boundaries, and tune DB2 queries. Anything less and you’ll be stuck in maintenance mode.
Interview Expectations
One likely question: “Describe how you would redesign a high‑volume CICS transaction to be idempotent while preserving performance.” They want to see your grasp of transaction semantics and scaling. Another: “Walk me through debugging a failing VSAM read in a COBOL program; which logs, dump utilities, and test harnesses would you use?” They’re probing depth of hands‑on troubleshooting.
Application Advice
Tailor your resume to mirror the JD: lead with “Mainframe Enterprise COBOL”, “JCL”, “VSAM”, “DB2”, “CICS”, and “Batch Processing”. Highlight any AI/GenAI integration work on mainframe if you have it. Quantify impact – e.g., “Reduced batch runtime by 20% using optimized JCL and DB2 indexing.” Use those exact terms to get past the ATS.