IT PROGRAMMER ANALYST, LEAD/ ADVANCED (Senior Mainframe Developer)

The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) is seeking a highly experienced senior mainframe developer to serve as a lead technical expert for the design, enhancement, and sustainability of critical legacy applications. This senior-level role provides technical leadership in the modernization and migration of the Computerized Criminal History (CCH) system, ensuring seamless integration between legacy and emerging platforms.

• Provide technical leadership in the development, maintenance, and modernization of DPSCS legacy mainframe applications.
• Lead code reviews and design sessions, ensuring best practices in mainframe architecture, performance tuning, and maintainability.
• Design, implement, and optimize COBOL, CICS, JCL, DB2, IMS, VSAM, and TSO-based components within production and development environments.
• Champion the use of development tools such as Xpeditor, File-AID, QMF, and TSO/ISPF to streamline debugging, testing, and deployment processes
• Collaborate cross-functionally with project managers, QA analysts, business stakeholders, and vendors to ensure alignment between business requirements and technical solutions.
• Lead incident and problem management efforts, providing root cause analysis and long-term corrective action for production issues.
• Provide 24/7 on-call support for mission-critical systems and ensure operational continuity through proactive monitoring and redundancy planning.
• Contribute to modernization planning, advising leadership on strategies for integrating mainframe systems with cloud, API, or web-based platforms.
• Prepare and maintain comprehensive technical documentation, including architecture diagrams, interface specifications, and process workflows.
• Represent the mainframe development team in technical planning sessions, vendor discussions, and governance meetings.

Do you have experience in System design?, Do you have a High school diploma or GED?, Experience: Six years of experience, two years of experience designing, developing, testing, implementing and maintaining applications systems and programs using generally accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools and an additional four years of experience converting data from project specifications by writing program code using generally accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools.

Notes:

1. Candidates may substitute six credit hours of coursework in application analysis and programming using generally accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools for six months of the required experience.

2. Candidates may substitute graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate and eighteen months of experience converting data from project specifications by writing program code using generally accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools for the additional four years of the required experience.

3. Candidates may substitute graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate and fifteen credit hours from an accredited college or university in systems analysis and application programming using generally accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools for the additional four years of the required experience.

4. Candidates may substitute experience on a year-for-year basis in one of the following areas: operating computers, scheduling, controlling input and output or maintaining backups or data storage, processing data on computers, evaluating, implementing and maintaining hardware and software, for a high school education.

5. Candidates may substitute the possession of a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Information Technology, Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or other information technology related field and two years of experience designing, developing, testing, implementing and maintaining applications systems and programs using generally accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools for the required experience.

6. Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a commissioned officer in Computer Systems Programming classifications or Computer Systems Programming specialty codes in the Information Technology field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required experience.

DESIRED OR PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience supporting state or federal criminal justice systems or other regulated government systems.

• Familiarity with CCH modernization initiatives and legacy system migration frameworks.

• Knowledge of integration between mainframe systems and distributed, web-based, or cloud platforms.

• Experience working within Agile, DevOps, or hybrid Waterfall environments.

• Strong understanding of security, compliance, and data governance within public safety systems.

• 10+ years of progressive experience in mainframe application development and support.

• Advanced proficiency/experience in COBOL, CICS, JCL, DB2, IMS, VSAM, and TSO.

• Expert-level experience with debugging and performance tools such as Xpeditor, File-AID, QMF, and ISPF.

• Proven leadership in system modernization, migration planning, and legacy-to-modern integrations.

• Experience with MQ Series for message-based integrations and inter-system communication.

• Strong analytical, diagnostic, and problem-solving skills, particularly in production support of 24/7 mission-critical systems.

Pulled from the full job description

• Paid parental leave
• Parental leave
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• Adoption assistance, If you are looking for an exciting career with great benefits, pension, generous leave, competitive salary, and the opportunity for advancement and professional growth, apply to join the DPSCS team today!

The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) is seeking dedicated candidates to fill important roles within our department. We are one of the largest departments in Maryland with nearly 12,000 employees and a budget of more than $1 billion. In order to fulfill our mission of promoting safety, we have increased security at our institutions while leading the way in innovative restorative justice projects that will help offenders reintegrate into society upon release.

As a member of the DPSCS team, you can have a fulfilling career, while also enjoying a wide range of benefits such as medical and dental coverage, paid time off (i.e. vacation, sick leave), becoming vested in the State pension, supplemental retirement options, and even joining the Maryland State Employees Credit Union.

GRADE

20, As an employee of the State of Maryland, you will have access to outstanding benefits, including: health insurance, dental, and vision plans offered at a low cost.

CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR MORE DETAILS: STATE OF MARYLAND BENEFITS

• Personal Leave - new State employees are awarded six (6) personnel days annually (prorated based on start date)

• Annual Leave - ten (10) days of accumulated annual leave per year

· Sick Leave - fifteen (15) days of accumulated sick leave per year · Parental Leave - up to sixty (60) days of paid parental leave upon the birth or adoption of a child · Holidays - State employees also celebrate at least twelve (12) holidays per year

• Pension - State employees earn credit towards a retirement pension