Mainframe Dev & Support Lead

Job Title - Senior Support Lead Job Summary

The Senior Support Lead plays a critical role in enhancing customer satisfaction by executing continuous improvement activities, conducting root cause analysis, and providing expert technical assistance to resolve complex customer issues. This position is pivotal in bridging the gap between customer needs and product enhancements, ensuring that support processes align with organizational goals.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a point of escalation for complex and high-priority customer issues by utilizing advanced problem-solving skills and technical expertise to ensure timely and effective resolution.
• Conduct root cause analysis for critical issues, utilizing data analysis tools and methodologies to establish preventive measures that reduce future defects and enhance product reliability.
• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Development, and QA teams by providing strategic feedback on product improvements, influencing design decisions, and ensuring alignment with evolving customer needs and expectations.
• Provide comprehensive technical assistance to team members by facilitating knowledge sharing and mentoring, enabling them to resolve customer issues efficiently and effectively.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives for support processes and workflows by identifying opportunities for innovation, automation, and efficiency enhancements, implementing best practices to optimize service delivery.
  
  

Skill Requirements

• In-depth knowledge of Product Support processes across L1, L2, and L3 levels.
• Strong understanding of customer service principles and practices.
• Proficiency in root cause analysis techniques and tools.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Advanced problem-solving skills with the ability to analyze complex issues and develop actionable solutions.
  
  

Certification

• ITIL Foundation Certification is preferred but not mandatory.
• Certifications related to Product Support and Customer Service Management are optional but valuable.
  
  

Experience - 11 15 Years Skill (Primary)

Technical Skills (ERS)-Other Technical Skills-Product Support (L1-L2-L3)

Mainframe Dev & Support Lead Role Summary

The Technical Lead will support Mainframe applications while coordinating with Distributed System teams. The lead ensures system stability, meets SLAs, and enables continuous improvement through innovation, intelligent monitoring, and process optimization. This role includes ownership of planning, estimation, PI Planning participation, and driving automation.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage P1/P2 incidents, lead bridge calls, communicate effectively with stakeholders, and coordinate with offshore teams.
• Ensure timely response to ServiceNow incidents, problems, and change tasks.
• Conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and implement preventive and automated solutions.
• Perform development activities and provide technical solutions.
• Perform effort estimation, capacity planning, and resource allocation for features, enhancements, and support work.
• Actively participate in PI Planning, Sprint Planning, backlog grooming, and Agile ceremonies.
• Coordinate with Distributed teams (Java, APIs, Microservices, Cloud) for seamless integration.
• Prepare or review technical designs ensuring performance, scalability, and maintainability.
• Guide teams in debugging complex issues across COBOL, CICS, DB2, MQ, and integrated systems.
• Oversee DB2 tuning, batch optimization, and system performance improvements.
• Lead automation initiatives to reduce manual effort in batch monitoring, incident resolution, and deployments.
• Leverage tools and scripts for auto-recovery, job restart, and performance trend analysis.
• Oversee release and deployment management using ChangeMan.
• Ensure compliance with change management, audit, and regulatory requirements.
• Drive continuous improvement using KPIs, SLAs, and operational metrics.
• Act as a liaison between business stakeholders, Mainframe, and Distributed teams.
  
  

Required Technical Skills Core Mainframe

• COBOL (advanced debugging, optimization, architecture understanding)
• JCL (complex workflows, scheduling optimization, condition handling)
• VSAM (file tuning, error handling, data management strategies)
• DB2 (advanced SQL tuning, locking analysis, stored procedures)
• CICS (performance tuning, debugging, region management)
• MQ (message flows, error handling, integration patterns)
  
  

Distributed & Modern Technologies

• REST/SOAP APIs and Microservices integration
• Working knowledge of Java-based applications
• Integration frameworks and middleware
  
  

Tools

• Control-M (advanced scheduling and automation)
• ServiceNow (incident, problem, and change management)
• ChangeMan (code promotion and version control)
• Abend-AID
• Expeditor
• File-AID
• Jira
• Monitoring tools (Splunk, Dynatrace, AppDynamics)
  
  

Soft Skills

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities under pressure.
• Strong communication skills with business, executive stakeholders, and cross-functional teams.
• Ownership mindset with a focus on operational excellence.
• Strong Agile mindset with PI Planning and SAFe experience.
  
  

Experience Profile

• 10 years of experience in Mainframe development and support.
• Strong experience in estimation, PI Planning, and Agile delivery (SAFe preferred).
• Hands-on exposure to Mainframe and Distributed Systems integration.