Mainframe Z Os System Programmer Jobs in Chicago, IL

Domain Tech Lead - Infrastructure Patching Automation (Mainframe & AS/400)

Join our AI & Engineering team by transforming technology platforms, driving innovation, and helping make a significant impact on our clients' success. You'll collaborate with talented professionals, reimagining and re-engineering operations and processes that are critical to business. Your contributions can help clients improve financial performance, accelerate new digital ventures, and fuel growth through innovation and enhanced productivity.
AI & Engineering leverages innovative engineering capabilities to build, deploy, and operate integrated/verticalized sector solutions in software, data, AI, network, and hybrid cloud infrastructure. These solutions are powered by engineering for business advantage, transforming mission-critical operations. We enable clients to stay ahead with the latest advancements by transforming engineering teams and modernizing technology and data platforms. Our delivery models are tailored to meet each client's unique requirements.

Recruiting for this role ends on 9/14/26.

Work you'll do

As a Domain Tech Lead on the AI & Engineering Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure team, you will own end-to-end technical delivery within a specific infrastructure domain on a large-scale infrastructure engineering engagement, with a focus on automating the patching lifecycle of multiple infrastructure areas. This is an engineering execution role - you are responsible for delivery outcomes within your domain, not just coordination across them.Our practitioners work collaboratively within integrated, cross-functional teams. You will provide hands-on technical design guidance to your engineering team, drive sprint-level delivery, and coordinate with adjacent infrastructure and engineering domains. You will be expected to solve architecture and integration problems that your engineers bring to you, and to surface domain-level risk before it becomes a program-level issue. Domain openings are available across: Database (Oracle, SQL, MongoDB, Redis, Postgres), Middleware, Cloud (AWS/Azure), Network, End User Compute, and Mainframe.

This role requires deep expertise in mainframe and AS/400 (IBM i) environments to lead and deliver the patch management program across complex legacy and hybrid infrastructure estates, develop automation solutions that reduce manual effort and risk, and serve as a trusted technical advisor to enterprise clients - working closely with client stakeholders, project managers, and cross-functional delivery teams to plan, schedule, and execute patch cycles while ensuring compliance, stability, and security across mission-critical platforms.

• Own the creation and execution of a technical execution plan for your domain - maintaining delivery commitments and proactively surfacing risks
• Provide hands-on technical design guidance to unblock infrastructure automation engineering: architecture decisions, integration patterns, implementation approaches
• Lead detailed design and drive execution of infrastructure test harnesses, infrastructure automation engineering, and deployment capabilities within your domain
• Lead technical decisions within your domain, ensuring solutions are standardized and production-scalable
• Drive PI planning, backlog prioritization, and sprint-level adjustments with engineering throughput as the primary success metric
• Coordinate with the Testing Platform team on infrastructure onboarding, test suite migration, and CI/CD pipeline integration
• Manage cross-domain dependencies and represent your domain's delivery status to program leadership and client stakeholders
• Develop junior team members through direct coaching, design reviews, and structured feedback

Patch Delivery - Mainframe & AS/400 Infrastructure

• Design, plan, and execute end-to-end patch delivery program for IBM z/OS mainframe and IBM i (AS/400) environments
• Manage the patch lifecycle end to end: identification, testing, scheduling, application, and post-implementation validation
• Understand patch windows across development, QA, and production environments
• Maintain patch compliance dashboards and KPIs

Automation Engineering - Mainframe Environments

• Coordinate automation frameworks to streamline patch identification, scheduling, and deployment on z/OS and IBM i systems
• Design automation pipelines with enterprise tooling (e.g., IBM Tivoli, CA7, TWS/OPC, ServiceNow, SDSF) to reduce manual touchpoints
• Design automated compliance checks, health monitoring, and alert frameworks for patch-related activities
• Coordinate with DevOps teams to incorporate mainframe automation into CI/CD pipelines where applicable

Client-Facing Consulting

• Serve as a primary technical point of contact for client stakeholders across mainframe leadership, infrastructure, and security teams
• Lead requirements-gathering workshops and translate business objectives into infrastructure delivery roadmaps
• Manage client expectations and proactively communicate risks, dependencies, and change management considerations

A successful candidate would possess these skills:

• Ability to work independently and collaborate as part of a team
• Effective written and verbal communication skills
• Meticulous attention to detail and quality of work product
• Ability to build and sustain professional relationships
• Ability to lead projects or workstreams
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks in a fast-paced and dynamic environment
• Strong interpersonal skills and professional demeanor
• Ability to meet deadlines
• Ability to mentor and provide clear guidance to others

The team

AI & Engineering helps organizations transform technology platforms, modernize critical operations, and drive innovation at scale. Professionals across the practice work with clients to improve performance, launch new digital capabilities, and increase productivity through engineering-led solutions.

Qualifications

Required

• 7+ years of relevant consulting or industry experience, with proven ability to engage senior technical stakeholders
• Experience managing or contributing to moderate-sized engagements (4-8 team members)
• Deep domain expertise in at least one of the following: relational/NoSQL databases, middleware, cloud platforms (AWS/Azure), network infrastructure, end user compute, or mainframe (IBM z/OS)
• Proven track record delivering automation engineering or test infrastructure at scale
• Experience leading small-to-mid-size engineering teams in a technical capacity
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and test automation frameworks; ability to review and guide automation code
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present domain status and risk clearly to non-technical audiences
• Ability to travel up to 50%
• IBM z/OS systems programming and patching (SMP/E, PTF management)
• IBM Db2 for z/OS and IBM MQ Server administration
• IBM i (AS/400) 7.4/7.5 administration and patching
• CICS and IMS transaction server configuration
• Experience developing automated test and validation procedures in mainframe environments
• Ability to travel 50%, on average, based on the work you do and the clients and industries/sectors you serve
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship, now or at any time in the future

Preferred

• Domain-specific certifications relevant to your target domain (e.g., Oracle DBA, AWS Solutions Architect, CCNP, IBM Mainframe)
• Experience with vulnerability management tooling, CWPP platforms (e.g., Wiz), or ITSM-integrated patching workflows
• Prior experience in financial services, healthcare, or other highly regulated industries
• Familiarity with orchestration tooling (e.g., ServiceNow, Tines, Remedy, or comparable platforms)
• Prior consulting or client-facing delivery experience preferred
• Familiarity with Agile/SAFe delivery methodology

The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. At Deloitte, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is $134,000 to $265,000.

You may also be eligible to participate in a discretionary annual incentive program, subject to the rules governing the program, whereby an award, if any, depends on various factors, including, without limitation, individual and organizational performance

Domain Tech Lead - Infrastructure Patching Automation (Mainframe & AS/400)

Join our AI & Engineering team by transforming technology platforms, driving innovation, and helping make a significant impact on our clients' success. You'll collaborate with talented professionals, reimagining and re-engineering operations and processes that are critical to business. Your contributions can help clients improve financial performance, accelerate new digital ventures, and fuel growth through innovation and enhanced productivity.
AI & Engineering leverages innovative engineering capabilities to build, deploy, and operate integrated/verticalized sector solutions in software, data, AI, network, and hybrid cloud infrastructure. These solutions are powered by engineering for business advantage, transforming mission-critical operations. We enable clients to stay ahead with the latest advancements by transforming engineering teams and modernizing technology and data platforms. Our delivery models are tailored to meet each client's unique requirements.

Recruiting for this role ends on 9/14/26.

Work you'll do

As a Domain Tech Lead on the AI & Engineering Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure team, you will own end-to-end technical delivery within a specific infrastructure domain on a large-scale infrastructure engineering engagement, with a focus on automating the patching lifecycle of multiple infrastructure areas. This is an engineering execution role - you are responsible for delivery outcomes within your domain, not just coordination across them.Our practitioners work collaboratively within integrated, cross-functional teams. You will provide hands-on technical design guidance to your engineering team, drive sprint-level delivery, and coordinate with adjacent infrastructure and engineering domains. You will be expected to solve architecture and integration problems that your engineers bring to you, and to surface domain-level risk before it becomes a program-level issue. Domain openings are available across: Database (Oracle, SQL, MongoDB, Redis, Postgres), Middleware, Cloud (AWS/Azure), Network, End User Compute, and Mainframe.

This role requires deep expertise in mainframe and AS/400 (IBM i) environments to lead and deliver the patch management program across complex legacy and hybrid infrastructure estates, develop automation solutions that reduce manual effort and risk, and serve as a trusted technical advisor to enterprise clients - working closely with client stakeholders, project managers, and cross-functional delivery teams to plan, schedule, and execute patch cycles while ensuring compliance, stability, and security across mission-critical platforms.

• Own the creation and execution of a technical execution plan for your domain - maintaining delivery commitments and proactively surfacing risks
• Provide hands-on technical design guidance to unblock infrastructure automation engineering: architecture decisions, integration patterns, implementation approaches
• Lead detailed design and drive execution of infrastructure test harnesses, infrastructure automation engineering, and deployment capabilities within your domain
• Lead technical decisions within your domain, ensuring solutions are standardized and production-scalable
• Drive PI planning, backlog prioritization, and sprint-level adjustments with engineering throughput as the primary success metric
• Coordinate with the Testing Platform team on infrastructure onboarding, test suite migration, and CI/CD pipeline integration
• Manage cross-domain dependencies and represent your domain's delivery status to program leadership and client stakeholders
• Develop junior team members through direct coaching, design reviews, and structured feedback

Patch Delivery - Mainframe & AS/400 Infrastructure

• Design, plan, and execute end-to-end patch delivery program for IBM z/OS mainframe and IBM i (AS/400) environments
• Manage the patch lifecycle end to end: identification, testing, scheduling, application, and post-implementation validation
• Understand patch windows across development, QA, and production environments
• Maintain patch compliance dashboards and KPIs

Automation Engineering - Mainframe Environments

• Coordinate automation frameworks to streamline patch identification, scheduling, and deployment on z/OS and IBM i systems
• Design automation pipelines with enterprise tooling (e.g., IBM Tivoli, CA7, TWS/OPC, ServiceNow, SDSF) to reduce manual touchpoints
• Design automated compliance checks, health monitoring, and alert frameworks for patch-related activities
• Coordinate with DevOps teams to incorporate mainframe automation into CI/CD pipelines where applicable

Client-Facing Consulting

• Serve as a primary technical point of contact for client stakeholders across mainframe leadership, infrastructure, and security teams
• Lead requirements-gathering workshops and translate business objectives into infrastructure delivery roadmaps
• Manage client expectations and proactively communicate risks, dependencies, and change management considerations

A successful candidate would possess these skills:

...