Technical Consultant

Professional Services Technical Consultant, (COBOL / ARP-SMS)

Location: Remote / Berkeley Heights, NJ Employment Type: Full-time

About the Role: We are seeking a Professional Services Technical Consultant to join our Professional Services ARP/SMS team. This role works directly with financial institution clients, internal delivery teams, and product stakeholders for the design, development, maintenance, and support of critical check positive pay and account reconciliation systems powered by Fiserv ARP/SMS (Account Reconciliation Package/Service Management System). You will leverage your deep COBOL expertise to enhance and customize ARP/SMS modules that enable next-day/same-day positive pay, partial/full deposit reconciliation, and exception-based reporting for treasury management customers.

Key Responsibilities:

• System Development & Maintenance: Develop, modify, and maintain mainframe applications using COBOL in an IBM z/OS environment, specifically focusing on ARP/SMS modules and related batch/online transactions.
• Positive Pay & Reconciliation Support: Configure and extend ARP/SMS functionality to support automated check positive pay reporting, same-day and next-day exception processing, and reconciliation for accounts with or without issue input.
• Integration & Customization: Customize ARP/SMS services to meet treasury management customer demands, including partial deposit reconciliation, full deposit reconciliation, and handling complex exception conditions.
• Production Support: Troubleshoot and resolve production incidents related to ARP/SMS jobs, CICS online transactions, file transfers, and data integrity issues. Provide on-call rotation support as needed.
• Performance Tuning: Optimize COBOL programs, JCL, and DB2/VSAM access methods to ensure real-time online system performance and batch window efficiency.
• Compliance & Security: Ensure all mainframe changes comply with financial industry regulations (e.g., check processing rules, NACHA standards where applicable) and internal security policies.
• Documentation & Knowledge Transfer: Maintain technical specifications, runbooks, and reconciliation workflow diagrams. Mentor junior mainframe staff on ARP/SMS intricacies.

Required Qualifications:

• Mainframe Expertise: 5+ years of hands-on experience with IBM z/OS, including JCL, TSO/ISPF, CICS, VSAM, and debugging tools (Xpediter, InterTest, or similar).
• COBOL Proficiency: Strong proficiency in COBOL (COBOL II, COBOL for z/OS) with demonstrated ability to read, write, and maintain complex batch and online programs.
• ARP/SMS Experience: Direct, hands-on experience with Fiserv ARP/SMS (Account Reconciliation Package/Service Management System), including:
• Configuring positive pay exception reporting (same-day, next-day, no-issue-input accounts).
• Implementing partial and full deposit reconciliation services.
• Working with ARP/SMS file layouts, control tables, and reconciliation cycles.
• Banking Domain Knowledge: Understanding of check processing lifecycle, positive pay matching logic, and treasury management reconciliation workflows.
• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical skills to diagnose production abends, data mismatches, and reconciliation breaks.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with other Fiserv mainframe products (e.g., PEP+).
• Knowledge of Endevor or Changeman for version control.
• Exposure to Agile or ITIL processes in a mainframe environment.
• Associate or Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent work experience.