Mainframe Senior Architect – Performance & Capacity Management - 1821Position Tupe: Full-Time Base Salary: $130,000–$150,000
U.S. Citizenship Required due to contractual/access requirements
Visa Sponsorship: Not available
Position OverviewWe are seeking an experienced
Mainframe Senior Architect specializing in IBM mainframe performance and capacity management. This is a highly technical, hands-on role responsible for maintaining and optimizing the performance, scalability, stability, and cost efficiency of a large IBM zEnterprise mainframe environment.
This position is approximately 80% IBM mainframe performance management and 20% capacity planning.The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in
IBM z/OS performance, real-time performance monitoring and tuning,
Workload Manager (WLM),
SMF/RMF data analysis, and large-scale
Parallel Sysplex environments.This person will analyze system and workload performance, identify and resolve bottlenecks, optimize resource utilization, and forecast future infrastructure requirements while balancing performance with cost.
Key Responsibilities- Monitor, analyze, troubleshoot, and optimize IBM z/OS mainframe performance across large, complex environments.
- Perform real-time analysis of CPU, memory, storage, workload, and transaction performance.
- Identify root causes of performance degradation and resolve bottlenecks during critical or high-volume processing periods.
- Tune and optimize Workload Manager (WLM) policies and workload configurations.
- Analyze and interpret SMF and RMF data to identify performance trends and opportunities for optimization.
- Evaluate the performance impact of major mainframe workloads and subsystems, including Db2, CICS, IMS, and MQ.
- Work within multi-LPAR and Parallel Sysplex environments.
- Analyze general processor and zIIP utilization and configuration.
- Perform capacity forecasting and modeling based on workload trends, business cycles, and anticipated growth.
- Forecast future MIPS/MSU and infrastructure requirements.
- Support mainframe cost optimization, including understanding IBM software pricing models and infrastructure costs.
- Perform SCRT (Sub-Capacity Reporting Tool) processing and related analysis.
- Develop reporting, dashboards, and performance analysis using tools such as SAS/MXG, Excel, OMEGAMON, IntelliMagic, REXX, and JCL.
- Partner with application developers, database administrators, infrastructure teams, DevOps, and leadership to communicate performance findings and recommendations.
- Develop preventative strategies to maintain system stability, availability, and low latency during peak workloads.
- Provide technical leadership and mentoring in mainframe performance and capacity management.
Required Qualifications- Extensive hands-on experience with IBM mainframe performance management and tuning.
- Strong expertise with IBM z/OS and IBM Z architecture.
- Experience working in large multi-LPAR, Parallel Sysplex environments.
- Deep knowledge of Workload Manager (WLM) configuration and tuning.
- Strong experience analyzing SMF and RMF performance data.
- Experience monitoring and optimizing CPU, memory, storage, and workload utilization.
- Strong understanding of Db2, CICS, IMS, and MQ and how these workloads impact overall system performance.
- Experience troubleshooting complex mainframe performance issues in real time.
- Strong hands-on skills with REXX and JCL.
- Experience with performance reporting and analytical tools such as SAS/MXG and OMEGAMON.
- Strong knowledge of mainframe capacity concepts, including MIPS, MSUs, workload forecasting, and capacity modeling.
- Understanding of IBM mainframe software pricing and cost optimization.
- Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and the ability to present complex technical findings to both technical and executive audiences.
- Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Must be a U.S. Citizen.
Highly Preferred / Eye-CatcherGrafana experience is highly desirable. Candidates who have used Grafana for performance monitoring, dashboards, visualization, or mainframe-related operational reporting will receive strong consideration.Additional preferred experience includes:
- ZPCR
- Macro4 Freezeframe
- BMC Thruput Manager
- TADz
- IntelliMagic
- SAS programming for reporting and analytics
- Creating executive dashboards and operational reporting tools
- Highly transactional, large-scale enterprise environments
EducationA
Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline is desirable but not an absolute requirement.Candidates without a Bachelor’s Degree may still be considered based on the strength and depth of their relevant IBM mainframe performance experience.
If a candidate does not have a Bachelor’s Degree, this should be clearly noted when presenting the candidate.Ideal Candidate ProfileThe strongest candidate will be a true
IBM mainframe performance specialist, rather than a general Mainframe Architect who has only had occasional exposure to performance or capacity management.We are particularly interested in candidates who have spent significant portions of their careers actively:
- Monitoring and tuning z/OS performance
- Working with WLM, RMF, and SMF
- Diagnosing real-time mainframe performance problems
- Optimizing CPU and zIIP utilization
- Working in Parallel Sysplex/multi-LPAR environments
- Analyzing Db2, CICS, IMS, and MQ workloads
- Using SAS/MXG, OMEGAMON, IntelliMagic, or similar performance tools
- Forecasting MIPS/MSU and future capacity requirements
- Balancing performance requirements against IBM mainframe infrastructure and software costs