Principal Software Engineer - IBM z/OS Connectivity

Redwood Software

• $145K — $175K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Enterprise Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, strong Java 8+ skills; familiarity with IBM Semeru or z/OS Java is a plus.
  • Hands-on z/OS systems integration experience, including JES2/JES3, TSO, RACF/ACF2/Top Secret, SMF, and USS.
  • Strong proficiency in C and low-level network protocols, including socket programming and TLS/keyring security.
  • Experience implementing cryptographic primitives using standard libraries, such as Java JCE.
  • Strong concurrency and multithreading skills with a focus on building resilient, long-running daemon processes.

Responsibilities

  • Design, develop, test, and maintain software for integrating with IBM z/OS mainframe environments.
  • Build integrations involving key mainframe technologies like job submission and event monitoring.
  • Extend Redwood's security and user authorization capabilities.
  • Troubleshoot complex issues in mainframe, Unix, and Java environments.
  • Improve the reliability, performance, security, and scalability of mainframe solutions.
  • Collaborate with product management and engineering teams to translate customer requirements into technical solutions.
  • Participate in architecture discussions, design reviews, and release planning.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work with modern technologies and AI tools in a production engineering environment.
  • Involvement in high-impact projects that support large enterprise automation environments.
  • Collaboration with a dynamic team of enthusiastic professionals.
  • Exposure to advanced Z/OS systems and protocols, enhancing technical expertise.
Full Job Description
YOUR IMPACT
As a Software Engineer - Principal, IBM z/OS Connectivity, you will help build a new connectivity agent that extends Redwood RunMyJobs (RMJ) natively onto IBM z/OS, enabling Redwood to support some of the largest enterprise automation environments in the market. You will work on systems-level engineering spanning custom wire protocols, cryptography, and a native platform bridge into JES, RACF/SAF, SMF, TSO, and z/OS UNIX System Services (USS), delivered as a Java agent that integrates with the Redwood platform through clean, versioned extension points. This position is open across levels from Software Engineer to Principal as we build out the team.
  • Design, develop, test, and maintain native software supporting connectivity and integration with IBM z/OS mainframe environments.
  • Build integrations with core mainframe technologies, including C/JNI, JES2/JES3 job submission and monitoring, TSO command execution via background TMP, and SMF-based event monitoring.
  • Integrate security and per-user authorization while extending Redwood's existing identity and credential management capabilities.
  • Develop and maintain systems-level capabilities involving custom wire protocols, cryptography, and native z/OS platform integration.
  • Troubleshoot complex system-level issues across mainframe, Unix, and Java environments.
  • Improve the reliability, performance, security, and scalability of Redwood's mainframe solutions.
  • Partner with product managers, architects, and engineers to translate customer requirements into effective technical solutions.
  • Participate in architecture discussions, design reviews, code reviews, testing, and release planning.
  • Leverage agentic AI to accelerate codec, testing, and documentation work while independently verifying correctness against authoritative IBM z/OS references.
  • Document protocols, security models, and platform prerequisites for field and support teams.
  • Validate technical assumptions on live LPARs and contribute to architectural decisions where modern documentation may be limited.
  • Contribute to team success through clear communication, shared responsibility for quality, and accountable ownership of goals and delivery commitments in a fast-paced, iterative agile environment.


YOUR EXPERIENCE
  • 10+ years of professional software engineering experience with strong Java 8+ skills; IBM Semeru or z/OS Java experience is a plus.
  • Hands-on z/OS systems integration experience, including JES2/JES3, TSO, RACF/ACF2/Top Secret, SMF, and USS.
  • Strong working proficiency in C.
  • Low-level network protocol experience, including socket programming, custom binary framing, character-encoding conversion, and TLS/keyring security.
  • Hands-on experience implementing cryptographic primitives to specification using standard libraries such as Java JCE, including key exchange and symmetric cipher modes, rather than designing cryptographic protocols.
  • Strong concurrency and multithreading skills, with experience building resilient, long-running daemon processes.
  • Ability to work effectively from primary technical sources, including IBM manuals and RACF/SMF references, rather than relying solely on tutorials or unverified AI-generated output.
  • Experience with modern DevOps practices and technologies, including Git, CI/CD, Docker, and Kubernetes.
  • Fluency with AI tools in a production engineering environment.
  • Strong code judgment, including the ability to identify plausible but incorrect AI-generated recommendations involving specialized mainframe APIs.
  • Proficiency in prompting AI tools, combined with the judgment to recognize when a task is too specialized for AI-assisted approaches.
  • Ability to maintain an architectural focus, abstracting from individual protocol and bridge details to shared platform-integration designs.
  • Experience with workload automation products such as Tidal, CA-7, Control-M, Stonebranch, BMC, or RunMyJobs preferred.
  • Experience with Sysplex/Parallel Sysplex clustering or z/OSMF REST APIs preferred.
  • Experience with CA-Panvalet, CA-Librarian, or other JCL library tooling preferred.
  • Experience with z/OS Assembler preferred, particularly as relevant to future authorized-code or SMF-exit work; this is a specialist, separately scoped area and is not a baseline requirement.
  • Mainframe migration or modernization project experience preferred.


If you like growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!

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