Zowe & Open Mainframe Platform - Technical Lead

Zowe & Open Mainframe Platform - Technical Lead need in Plano,Texas Onsite role

Location: Plano, Texas
Role Overview

We are hiring a Technical Lead for Zowe and related open-mainframe capabilities. You will own the strategy and hands-on delivery of modern interfaces to z/OS API Mediation Layer, Zowe CLI, Desktop/Application Framework, Explorer integrations, and the surrounding security, automation, and CI/CD stack. You will set standards, mentor engineers, and make the mainframe usable by developers who work the way they already work on cloud and distributed platforms.

This is a lead-developer role: you will design reference architectures, install and harden Zowe in enterprise environments, publish reusable patterns, and partner with application teams so datasets, JES, USS, and z/OS services are consumed through APIs, CLIs, and IDEs rather than only through 3270 workflows.

Key responsibilities

• Own the enterprise Zowe architecture: component selection, topology, high availability, certificate/SSO design, and upgrade path across LTS releases.
• Lead installation, configuration, and operationalization of Zowe API Mediation Layer, Zowe CLI, Application Framework/Desktop, Zowe Explorer (VS Code / IntelliJ), and related SDKs.
• Design and publish REST (and related) API patterns that expose z/OSMF, JES, MVS datasets, USS, and internal services through API ML with catalog, routing, and single sign-on.
• Integrate Zowe into enterprise DevOps: Git, Jenkins/GitHub Actions/Azure DevOps, Ansible, pipeline jobs for compile, promote, submit, and verify on z/OS.
• Define security baselines with RACF/SAF, TLS, certificates, identity providers, and least-privilege service accounts; complete audits and conformance reviews.
• Establish a Zowe conformance and extension strategy evaluate vendor plug-ins, build internal extensions, and keep the platform vendor-agnostic where it matters.
• Create golden paths, runbooks, and developer enablement: onboarding labs, CLI profiles, VS Code workspaces, and first job / first dataset tutorials.
• Partner with application, MQ/CICS/Db2, and infrastructure teams to migrate high-value workflows off green-screen-only processes without breaking operational controls.
• Track Open Mainframe Project and Zowe community releases, security advisories, and LTS cadence; plan upgrades and communicate impact.
• Mentor mid-level engineers and new-to-mainframe developers; represent the platform in architecture reviews and with vendors (IBM, Broadcom, Rocket, and others).
• Measure adoption: number of teams on Zowe CLI/Explorer, APIs in production, pipeline coverage, and mean time to onboard a new developer.

Required skills:

• Deep working knowledge of IBM z/OS: TSO/ISPF, JES2/JES3, datasets vs. USS, JCL, SDSF or equivalent, and z/OSMF.
• Production experience with Zowe: API Mediation Layer, CLI, Desktop/App Framework, and at least one IDE extension (Zowe Explorer for VS Code or IntelliJ).
• REST API design and operations: OpenAPI, gateways, service discovery, authentication/authorization, and troubleshooting TLS and identity issues.
• Mainframe security fundamentals: RACF (or ACF2/Top Secret), certificates, keyrings, SAF calls, and how Zowe components authenticate to z/OS.
• DevOps on or to the mainframe: Git-based workflows, CI/CD pipelines, artifact promotion, and automated job submit/verify.
• Scripting and integration languages used around Zowe: one or more of TypeScript/JavaScript, Java, Python, Kotlin, REXX, or Bash; comfort reading Zowe docs and logs.
• Ability to stand up and harden Linux or z/OS Unix environments that host or consume Zowe services.
• Clear written communication: architecture decision records, runbooks, and enablement material for mixed-skill audiences.
• 10+ years in enterprise platforms or mainframe engineering, including 3+ years leading technical workstreams (architecture, delivery, or both).

Preferred skills:

• Contributions to, or close following of, the Open Mainframe Project / Zowe community (issues, extensions, mentorship, conformance).
• Zowe LTS v2 or v3 upgrades in a regulated environment; experience with IBM Z Distribution for Zowe or vendor-supported builds.
• Ansible collections for z/OS, ZOWE CLI in pipelines, or Jenkins/GitHub Actions plug-ins that call z/OSMF or Zowe APIs.
• CICS, IMS, Db2, MQ, or VSAM modernization via APIs; familiarity with z/OS Connect or similar API enablement products.
• VS Code extension or internal plug-in development; client SDKs (Java, Node, Kotlin, Python).
• Hybrid-cloud patterns: connecting z/OS APIs to Kubernetes, API gateways, or enterprise IAM (OIDC/SAML).
• COBOL/PL/I application lifecycle awareness sufficient to advise teams not required to be a primary application programmer.
• ITIL/SRE practices for a platform service: SLOs, change windows, observability of API ML and Zowe servers.