Senior Software Engineer - Mainframe & AWS Integration

Senior Software Engineer - Mainframe & AWS Integration | Remote | Contract We're partnering with a leading Life Insurance organization that's looking for a hands-on Senior Software Engineer to help extend and integrate its Mainframe-based annuity policy administration environment with AWS. This is not a Mainframe migration role, and it's not a purely Mainframe role either. The business isn't moving away from the Mainframe - the focus is on building modern capabilities around and on top of the existing platform, primarily Vantage (DXC). You'll be building integrations, an Operational Data Store, event-driven processing, and Generative AI capabilities that sit alongside the Mainframe, not replacing it. You'll contribute to architecture discussions and implement solutions end-to-end, with final design direction provided by the Technical Lead. Key priorities include: Building modern integrations between the Mainframe and AWS. Developing an Operational Data Store on AWS, primarily sourced from DB2. Supporting real-time and event-driven processing. Increasing the use of data and automation around the existing Mainframe environment. Exploring and integrating Generative AI capabilities, including Amazon Bedrock, RAG models, Human-in-the-Loop capabilities, and AI-driven analysis of Mainframe data. What we're looking for: First and foremost, a strong hands-on engineer who is comfortable working across both legacy and modern environments - not someone looking for a purely Mainframe role, and not someone who wants to avoid the Mainframe entirely. Strong hands-on Mainframe engineering experience (ideally 5-10+ years), with solid understanding of COBOL, CICS, DB2, VSAM, and JCL. Strong Python development experience. Strong AWS engineering experience, including Lambda, API Gateway, S3, Step Functions, EventBridge, SQS/SNS, DynamoDB, and RDS/Aurora. Proven experience integrating modern cloud capabilities with legacy/Mainframe systems - building CICS web services, REST APIs, and event-driven integrations is highly relevant. Comfortable understanding complex legacy business logic and translating it into modern integrations and engineering solutions. Experience with Vantage or similar Mainframe-based annuity policy administration platforms, DB2-to-AWS or near-real-time data integration, Assembler, and/or Generative AI/RAG/Amazon Bedrock is highly desirable. Curiosity and a willingness to challenge the traditional "this is how we've always done it" approach. Must haves: Applications without recent hands on Mainframe and AWS experience will not be consisdered. Applications without experience integrating AWS with Mainframe technologies will not be considered Applications without Python experience will not be considered. You'll work closely with a Data Specialist to support DB2-to-AWS data integration, initial data loads and near-real-time ingestion, data transformation and validation, and reconciliation and monitoring. This is a genuinely hands-on, end-to-end engineering role for someone who's technically curious, comfortable experimenting with new technologies, and happy participating in architecture discussions while staying focused on implementation. If you're interested in learning more, apply today or get in touch for a confidential conversation. Oliver James