Lead Mainframe Developer

Seeking a highly experienced Mainframe Lead Developer to provide technical leadership, guidance, and oversight for the support and maintenance of mainframe-based Tax System. The MF Support Lead will coordinate day-to-day support activities, manage incident response across severity levels, ensure SLA compliance, and drive continuous improvements while maintaining system stability as the system transitions toward a modern replacement system. This role requires deep expertise in COBOL, JCL, CICS, DB2, batch/online processing, and production operations within large legacy environments., Technical Leadership & Daily Operations

• Lead and coordinate daily support operations across 24/7/365 coverage requirements
• Oversee resolution of incidents across all severities, adhering to defined SLAs
• Manage and troubleshoot batch cycles and online systems
• Ensure the availability of the system
• Perform root cause analysis for recurring issues and provide preventive solutions.

Application Support & Maintenance

• Maintain applications built using COBOL, JCL, Natural, and supported by DB2 and VSAM databases
• Handle small/medium enhancements
• Support annual statutory updates, which introduce ongoing major enhancements

Incident, Change & Problem Management

• Manage L2/L3 escalations in line with on call, rotating support model
• Ensure strict adherence to ITIL-aligned change management for production changes
• Provide timely updates, communication, and reports for critical incidents.

Documentation, Knowledge Transfer & Governance

• Lead comprehensive documentation of system processes, architecture, job flows, and operational procedures as required under the RFP Scope of Work (knowledge transfer & process documentation)
• Assist in Business Process Mapping for all tax-related functions and identify risks or inefficiencies in existing workflows
• Support and facilitate knowledge transition to vendor support teams.

Performance Management

• Track and report on KPIs, ticket volumes, SLA compliance, and improvement plans
• Participate in monthly and quarterly performance reviews and satisfaction surveys.

• Minimum 4+ years of IT experience, with a strong hands-on mainframe support or development background.
• Demonstrated expertise with: COBOL (online + batch programs ), JCL, CICS, DB2, VSAM, Mainframe utilities and job schedulers (e.g., Control M)
• Experience supporting critical, high-availability systems.
• Ability to work onsite and coordinate with mixed local + remote teams
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills in legacy environments.
• Candidate must be located within commuting distance or willing to relocate to Salt Lake City, UT., * 4+ years of experience in large-scale mainframe support functions.
• Experience working with complex legacy tax or government systems.
• Experience with: Natural, REXX, SCOBOL, or system utilities, Performance monitoring tools such as OMEGAMON
• Prior experience in Business Process Mapping and documenting legacy systems.
• Experience working with limited documentation environments and high-criticality systems.
• Ability to lead distributed teams across multiple stakeholders., * Strong leadership, communication, and mentoring capabilities.
• Ability to manage high-pressure troubleshooting scenarios.
• Structured problem solver with attention to detail.
• High sense of ownership, accountability, and service orientation.
• Adaptability to work in legacy + modernization transition environments.

Educational Requirements:

• A bachelor’s degree or foreign equivalent is required from an accredited institution. Will consider three years of progressive, relevant work experience instead of every year of education. Candidates who have completed a Master’s degree program are strongly preferred.

The job entails sitting and working at a computer for extended periods. Should be able to communicate by telephone, email, or face-to-face. Travel may be required as per the job requirements.

The estimated annual compensation range for this role will be as follows: In CA/ WA/NY/CO/MD/IL/MN/NJ/VT/MA: $73,000 to $102,200 In Washington, DC: $66,100 to $100,200