Senior z/OS Systems Administrator

Position Overview:

We are seeking an experienced Senior z/OS Systems Administrator to support and maintain a large-scale IBM mainframe environment.

The ideal candidate will be a senior-level z/OS professional with deep hands-on expertise in SMP/E, REXX scripting, and z/OSMF, along with strong knowledge of z/OS systems administration, maintenance, upgrades, troubleshooting, and automation.

This position requires an individual who can work independently, troubleshoot complex mainframe system issues, perform system-level maintenance and upgrades, and develop automation to improve the reliability and efficiency of the z/OS environment.

Key Responsibilities:

- Install, configure, maintain, and support IBM z/OS operating systems and related system software.

- Perform z/OS upgrades, maintenance, system modifications, and lifecycle management.

- Provide advanced administration and troubleshooting of z/OS environments.

- Use SMP/E (System Modification Program/Extended) extensively for installation, maintenance, upgrades, PTFs, APARs, HOLDDATA processing, and management of IBM and third-party software.

- Analyze SMP/E environments, zones, CSI datasets, SYSMODs, and maintenance requirements.

- Develop and maintain REXX scripts to automate z/OS administration, monitoring, reporting, maintenance, and operational processes.

- Identify manual processes that can be improved through REXX-based automation.

- Administer and support IBM z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF).

- Configure and maintain z/OSMF services, workflows, plugins, and system management functions.

- Utilize z/OSMF for system management, configuration, monitoring, and automation.

- Perform system problem determination, root-cause analysis, and resolution of complex z/OS issues.

- Monitor system performance, availability, capacity, and overall system health.

- Work with operations, application, storage, network, security, and database teams to resolve mainframe infrastructure issues.

- Participate in system upgrades, migrations, disaster recovery testing, and infrastructure modernization initiatives.

- Maintain system documentation, operating procedures, configuration standards, and technical runbooks.

- Provide technical leadership and mentoring to other mainframe systems administrators.

- Participate in production support and on-call activities as required.

Required Qualifications :

- 10+ years of hands-on SMP/E experience in enterprise IBM z/OS environments.

- 10+ years of hands-on REXX scripting experience, including development of automation for systems administration and operational tasks.

- Strong hands-on experience with IBM z/OSMF (z/OS Management Facility).

- Extensive experience administering and supporting IBM z/OS in large enterprise environments.

- Strong knowledge of z/OS system architecture, configuration, maintenance, and troubleshooting.

- Experience installing and maintaining IBM and third-party mainframe software.

- Extensive experience applying PTFs, APARs, maintenance packages, and software upgrades using SMP/E.

- Strong understanding of SMP/E CSI structures, zones, SYSMOD processing, HOLDDATA, RECEIVE, APPLY, ACCEPT, and RESTORE processes.

- Strong knowledge of JCL, TSO/ISPF, UNIX System Services (USS), and z/OS utilities.

- Ability to diagnose complex system problems using z/OS logs, dumps, system messages, and diagnostic tools.

- Strong understanding of mainframe change-management and production-control processes.

- Excellent analytical, troubleshooting, documentation, and communication skills.

- Ability to work independently and take ownership of complex technical issues.

Preferred Skills:

- Experience with several of the following would be highly desirable:

1. JES2

2. RACF

3. TCP/IP

4. UNIX System Services (USS)

5. HMC

6. IBM System z / IBM Z hardware

7. Parallel Sysplex

8. Coupling Facility

9. WLM

10. RMF / SMF

11. System Automation

12. SDSF

13. DFSMS

14. Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity

15. Mainframe monitoring and performance-management tools

16. Automation using REXX, JCL, CLISTs, and other scripting technologies

Ideal Candidate:

- The successful candidate will be a senior-level z/OS systems professional who is comfortable taking ownership of a complex enterprise mainframe environment.

- This individual should have particularly deep expertise in SMP/E and REXX, with at least 10 years of hands-on experience in each, and strong practical experience administering and utilizing z/OSMF.

- The candidate should be capable of working with minimal supervision, leading complex system maintenance and upgrade activities, automating repetitive administrative functions, and serving as a technical escalation point for z/OS-related issues.

Skills

System Administration, z/OS, Mainframe, System Support, System Configuration, Workflows, System Migration, IT Disaster Recovery, JCL