W Contract Mainframe Technical Lead

Job Title: Mainframe Technical Lead

Job Location: San Antonio, TX & Plano, TX (Onsite from day one)

Job Duration: 6+ months

Minimum years of experience required: 10+ years

Type of Hire: w2 contract

JOB DETAILS:

Seeking an experienced Mainframe Technical Lead (L3) to lead and manage a team supporting enterprise z/OS infrastructure and Mainframe DB2 environments . Responsible for platform availability, performance, security, modernization, incident resolution, and operational excellence across z/OS, CICS, DB2, Storage, RACF, and supporting subsystem technologies. The role combines hands-on technical leadership, customer engagement, team development, and governance for 24x7 mission-critical environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor Mainframe Systems Programmers and DB2 Administrators across onsite, offshore, and nearshore teams.
• Provide L3 support for complex z/OS, CICS, DB2, JES, RACF, USS, storage, and subsystem-related issues.
• Manage installation, configuration, migration, customization, maintenance, and upgrades of z/OS and ISV products.
• Drive incident, problem, change, capacity, availability, and performance management activities.
• Perform RCA, implement preventive actions, and ensure compliance with SLA and operational commitments.
• Lead IPL activities, maintenance deployments (RSU/SMP-E), software refreshes, hardware upgrades, and disaster recovery testing.
• Define operational procedures, automation strategies, backup/recovery plans, and governance standards.
• Oversee Mainframe DB2 administration including subsystem management, utilities, backup/recovery, performance tuning, security, capacity planning, migrations, and database availability.
• Partner with application teams on DB2 performance optimization, SQL tuning, and database best practices.
• Drive automation initiatives using REXX, JCL, z/OSMF, Ansible, and monitoring tools to improve operational efficiency.
• Identify skill gaps, develop training plans, and ensure continuous capability improvement within the team.

Required Technical Skills

• Expert knowledge of z/OS, MVS, JES2/JES3, Parallel Sysplex, GDPS, WLM, Catalog Management, PARMLIB, PROCLIB, USS, HMC, LPAR, IPL, Standalone Dumps, SMP/E, and RSU maintenance .
• Strong experience with RACF, JCL, REXX, CLIST, Assembler Exits, Control-M, Connect:Direct (NDM), z/OS Connect, and ISV product administration .
• Strong knowledge of CICS administration , including CEMT, CEDA, transaction processing, subsystem connectivity, high availability, and performance management.
• Deep understanding of DB2 for z/OS , including subsystem administration, utilities, RUNSTATS, REORG, backup/recovery, disaster recovery, SQL tuning, locking, buffer pools, security, and capacity management.
• Experience with RMF, SMF, performance analysis, capacity planning, workload optimization, and availability management .
• Experience supporting and maintaining enterprise monitoring and automation platforms such as NetView, System Automation (SA z/OS), BMC MainView, OMEGAMON, and Ansible .

Qualifications & Soft Skills

• 10+ years of Mainframe infrastructure experience with proven technical leadership experience.
• Strong customer-facing communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience supporting large-scale 24x7 production environments.
• Strong documentation, governance, audit, and operational process management skills.
• Ability to lead critical incidents, manage escalations, and handle high-pressure situations.
• Strong mentoring, coaching, and team development capabilities.

Preferred

• IBM z/OS and DB2 certifications.
• ITIL certification.
• Experience with Mainframe Automation, AIOps, Observability, Performance & Capacity Management, and Mainframe modernization initiatives.