IBM IMS Expert/Mainframe System Architect

We are seeking a highly skilled and seasoned IBM IMS Expert to join our core infrastructure team.

In this critical role, you will be responsible for the engineering, configuration, performance tuning, and 24/7 reliability of our enterprise IMS environments (encompassing both IMS DB and IMS TM).

You will work closely with application development teams, database administrators, and security officers to ensure seamless, high-performance transaction processing and hierarchical database management for mission-critical banking systems.

Key Responsibilities:

- Architecture and Engineering: Design, implement, and maintain complex IBM IMS DB/DC environments, control regions, message processing regions (MPR), batch message processing (BMP), and supporting z/OS infrastructure to meet rigorous enterprise availability (99.999%) and performance standards.

- Performance Tuning and Diagnostics: Monitor IMS system performance using tools such as OMEGAMON for IMS, SYSVIEW, and IMS Performance Analyzer. Analyze system dumps, trace logs, log records (such as 01/02 log records), and abends, and perform deep-dive troubleshooting to resolve complex database deadlocks, resource contention, and storage bottlenecks.

- Security and Compliance: Ensure all IMS configurations and database access controls comply with strict financial regulatory standards and corporate security policies, collaborating with RACF/ACF2 administrators for secure resource definition, PSB/DBD security, and user access control. Proactively identify and remediate security vulnerabilities in the IMS environment.

- Integration and Connectivity: Manage and optimize connectivity between IMS and other enterprise tiers, including DB2, CICS, IBM MQ, TCP/IP, and modern web services/APIs for cross-platform channel integration.

- Upgrades and Maintenance: Plan and execute z/OS and IMS software maintenance, PTF implementations, database reorganizations (REORG), migrations, and regular health checks with minimal disruption to production workloads.

- L3 Support and Mentorship: Act as the ultimate escalation point (Level 3) for major incident management, providing root-cause analysis (RCA) and sharing domain knowledge with junior systems programmers and operations teams. Foster a collaborative, inclusive team culture and actively mentor team members to build technical depth across the group.

- Stakeholder and Vendor Coordination: Liaise with application development teams, business stakeholders, and third-party software vendors to coordinate complex change implementations, resolve interdependencies, and ensure alignment with business priorities.

Qualifications and Technical Competencies:

- Experience: Minimum of 8-10+ years of hands-on experience in IBM Mainframe systems programming, with a deep, specialized focus on IBM IMS DB/DC administration, definition, and tuning in a large-scale enterprise environment. Financial services experience is preferred but not mandatory; experience in other high-volume transaction processing industries is also valued.

Core Technical Skills :

1. Expert-level knowledge of IMS control blocks, DBD, PSB, and ACB generation, DBRC (Database Recovery Control), and IMSplex management.

2. Strong proficiency in z/OS operating system commands, JCL, SMP/E, RACF, and utilities (e.g., DFSDNTX0, Image Copy, Database Reorganization).

3. Proven track record in analyzing dump data (IPCS, IMS dumps), log records, and resolving complex lock contentions or database corruption issues.

4. Experience integrating IMS with DB2, IBM MQ, and modern API/REST interfaces.

5. Hands-on experience with mainframe tools such as OMEGAMON, SYSVIEW, IMS Performance Analyzer, and File Manager for IMS.

6. Familiarity with application programming languages and interfaces (COBOL, PL/I, DL/I, SQL) to facilitate effective troubleshooting and collaboration with development teams.

7. Working knowledge of DevOps toolchains (GitHub, Jenkins) and Agile practices (Scrum, JIRA, Confluence) is preferred.

8. Experience with disaster recovery planning, IMS database recovery procedures, testing, and execution for z/OS environments.

Soft Skills :

1. Exceptional problem-solving and analytical capabilities under high-pressure incident scenarios.

2. Strong communication skills with the ability to articulate technical risks clearly to senior stakeholders and business sponsors.

3. Proven ability to coordinate across cross-functional teams, including application developers, DBAs, security, and external vendors.

4. Proactive mindset, identifying systemic issues that hinder team performance and developing practical solutions.

5. Commitment to fostering an inclusive, knowledge-sharing team culture and mentoring junior engineers.

Skills

IMS, Performance Tuning, CICS, MQ, DB2, System Administration, Mainframe, System Programming, JCL