Senior Mainframe DB2 z/OS DBA / Systems Administrator
Location: Remote
Job Type: Contract
Experience: 10+ Years
Role Overview We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Mainframe DB2 z/OS DBA / Systems Administrator with strong hands-on expertise across the IBM Mainframe ecosystem.
The ideal candidate will have deep experience with DB2 for z/OS combined with strong z/OS systems and infrastructure skills, including RACF, CICS, IBM MQ, z/VM, z/Linux, SMP/E, system maintenance, performance monitoring, security, storage, and production support.
This is a highly technical role. The primary focus is on hands-on Mainframe technical expertise, troubleshooting, administration, performance, availability, and production support. Project management experience is a plus but is secondary to technical capability.
Key Responsibilities DB2 for z/OS Administration Install, configure, maintain, upgrade, and support DB2 for z/OS subsystems.
Administer production and non-production DB2 environments.
Perform DB2 subsystem maintenance, upgrades, migrations, and configuration changes.
Apply DB2 and related Mainframe maintenance using SMP/E.
Execute and optimize DB2 utilities including: REORG
RUNSTATS
COPY
RECOVER
LOAD
REBUILD INDEX
Monitor and tune DB2 subsystems, SQL, buffer pools, locking, logging, storage, and application performance.
Perform DB2 performance analysis and SQL optimization.
Support backup, recovery, high availability, and disaster recovery activities.
Participate in disaster recovery testing and recovery validation.
Troubleshoot complex DB2 production issues and perform root-cause analysis.
Mainframe / z/OS Systems Administration Provide hands-on administration and operational support for IBM z/OS / MVS environments.
Monitor system health, availability, CPU, memory, workloads, batch processing, storage, and subsystem performance.
Support IPL/POR, system startup/shutdown, started tasks, JES and batch processing.
Perform z/OS maintenance, upgrades, patching, and system configuration activities.
Work with PARMLIB, PROCLIB, TSO/ISPF, SDSF, JES2/JES3, JCL, and z/OS utilities.
Support SMP/E RECEIVE/APPLY/ACCEPT, PTF maintenance, HOLDDATA review, and USERMOD activities.
Troubleshoot complex system, subsystem, batch, storage, and production incidents.
Support enterprise Mainframe availability and high-availability environments.
RACF / Mainframe Security Provide hands-on RACF administration and security support.
Administer users, groups, profiles, permissions, and protected resources.
Perform access reviews, privilege validation, and security troubleshooting.
Support RACF audits, compliance activities, security hardening, and remediation.
Collaborate with security teams to resolve access-control and authorization issues.
CICS / IBM MQ Support CICS environments and troubleshoot CICS-related production issues.
Collaborate with application and infrastructure teams on CICS availability, performance, and transaction issues.
Support IBM MQ / MQSeries environments and troubleshoot messaging issues.
Monitor and troubleshoot queues, message processing, connectivity, and integration issues.
Work across CICS, DB2, MQ, application, network, and infrastructure teams to resolve complex production incidents.
z/VM / z/Linux Support IBM z/VM environments and related Mainframe infrastructure.
Support Linux on IBM Z / z/Linux environments and integration with the broader Mainframe ecosystem.
Troubleshoot operating-system, connectivity, storage, workload, and infrastructure issues across z/OS, z/VM, and z/Linux environments.
Collaborate with platform, infrastructure, storage, network, and security teams on cross-platform issues.
Replication & Data Integration Support Q Replication, SQL Replication, and Change Data Capture (CDC).
Support DB2 Connect and related DB2 connectivity.
Support Informatica PowerExchange where required.
Troubleshoot data movement, replication, connectivity, and integration issues.
Performance & Monitoring Experience with one or more of the following is preferred:
OMEGAMON
IntelliMagic
MXG
BMC MainView
Apptune
Query Monitor
TMON
Strobe
Db2PM
RMF/SMF
SDSF
Responsibilities include:
Monitor DB2 and z/OS performance.
Analyze CPU, memory, I/O, storage, workload, locking, and subsystem performance.
Identify performance bottlenecks and recommend corrective actions.
Support capacity planning and performance optimization.
Automation & Scheduling Experience with:
REXX
CLIST
JCL
TWS/OPC
Control-M
SA z/OS
NetView
Mainframe automation and operational scripting
Use automation to improve system monitoring, maintenance, reporting, health checks, and repetitive operational activities.
Production Support & ITIL Provide 24x7 / rotational on-call production support.
Act as a technical escalation point for high-severity incidents.
Perform detailed root-cause analysis and develop permanent corrective actions.
Follow ITIL processes for: Incident Management
Problem Management
Change Management
Release Management
Support major incidents and production recovery activities.
Maintain SOPs, runbooks, implementation plans, technical documentation, and operational procedures.