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Remote Mainframe Developer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Senior Software Engineer [REMOTE]

San Francisco, CA · Remote

$144K - $190K/yr

Help create a safe environment where everyone can contribute, learn from failures, share on-call knowledge, and help each other grow as operators and engineers. #LI-REMOTE Why Upbound? At Upbound ...

Senior Gen AI Developer

El Segundo, CA · On-site +1

$182K - $228K/yr

KBR is seeing a Senior Gen AI Developer to join our team in El Segundo, CA (remote). The MILSATCOM Systems Engineering, Integration, and Test (MSEIT) effort provides leading edge Systems Engineering ...

Mid Level Software Engineer

Irvine, CA · Remote

$100K - $115K/yr

... DevOps to design, build, and operate cloud-based services. This is a Remote role. Here's How You'll Make an Impact on the Team * Own implementation and delivery of product features and services

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Remote Mainframe Developer information

See California salary details

$9

$52

$71

How much do remote mainframe developer jobs pay per hour?

As of Jul 22, 2026, the average hourly pay for remote mainframe developer in California is $52.68, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $46.49 and $59.81 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

Is IBM still making mainframes?

IBM continues to manufacture mainframes, such as the IBM Z series, which are widely used in enterprise environments for their reliability, security, and scalability. Mainframes remain a key platform for large-scale data processing and transaction workloads, and many organizations rely on mainframe developers to maintain and upgrade these systems.

What Does a Remote Mainframe Developer Do?

As a remote mainframe developer, you work from home to design, code, test, and configure software and applications used on a mainframe system. Mainframes are large computers with particularly high processing power and are often used for critical tasks like bulk data processing or enterprise resource planning. In this role, you may help ensure all new software is fully backward-compatible, monitor system performance, isolate errors, and work collaboratively with other developers as needed. Most mainframe developers work for larger companies. As a remote employee, you use virtual office software, phone, chat, or email to remain connected to other employees.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Remote Mainframe Developer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Remote Mainframe Developer, you need strong programming skills in languages like COBOL, JCL, and experience with mainframe operating systems, often supported by a degree in computer science or related field. Familiarity with tools such as IBM z/OS, DB2, CICS, and version control systems is typically required, along with relevant certifications. Excellent problem-solving abilities, independent work ethic, and effective virtual communication are standout soft skills for this remote role. These skills ensure smooth maintenance, modernization, and support of critical legacy systems in distributed teams.

Is mainframe developer a good career?

A mainframe developer is a skilled IT professional who maintains and develops applications on mainframe systems, which are used by large organizations for critical data processing. The role offers stable employment, competitive salaries, and opportunities to work with legacy technologies like COBOL and JCL. However, it requires specialized skills and ongoing learning to stay current with evolving systems and tools.

Can mainframe be replaced by AI?

Mainframe developers work with large-scale, legacy systems that require specialized knowledge of mainframe architectures, programming languages, and security protocols. While AI can automate certain tasks like code analysis and testing, it is unlikely to fully replace the need for skilled mainframe developers who maintain and optimize critical enterprise systems. AI tools may assist in development, but human expertise remains essential for complex mainframe environments.

How does a Remote Mainframe Developer typically collaborate with on-site teams and manage communication challenges?

As a Remote Mainframe Developer, you'll often work closely with on-site IT teams, business analysts, and project managers through virtual meetings, chat platforms, and shared documentation tools. Effective communication is key, so regular check-ins and proactive status updates help ensure alignment on project goals and troubleshooting efforts. Many companies use agile methodologies, which means you'll likely participate in daily stand-ups and sprint planning sessions remotely. While time zone differences can be a challenge, flexible scheduling and clear communication protocols are common strategies to keep everyone connected and productive.

What is the salary of a mainframe developer?

The salary of a mainframe developer typically ranges from $70,000 to $120,000 annually, depending on experience, location, and certifications. Senior developers with specialized skills in COBOL, JCL, and mainframe tools may earn higher salaries, especially in industries like finance and government that rely heavily on mainframe systems.

What is a Remote Mainframe Developer?

A Remote Mainframe Developer is a software professional who specializes in designing, developing, maintaining, and troubleshooting applications that run on mainframe computers, while working from a remote location. Mainframes are powerful computers often used by large organizations for critical applications, such as transaction processing and bulk data handling. Remote Mainframe Developers use programming languages like COBOL, JCL, and Assembler, and often connect to mainframe systems via secure networks. Their work ensures that legacy systems remain efficient, secure, and up-to-date. This role typically requires strong technical skills, experience with mainframe environments, and effective communication for collaborating with on-site teams.
What are the most commonly searched types of Mainframe Developer jobs in California? The most popular types of Mainframe Developer jobs in California are:
What job categories do people searching Remote Mainframe Developer jobs in California look for? The top searched job categories for Remote Mainframe Developer jobs in California are:
What cities in California are hiring for Remote Mainframe Developer jobs? Cities in California with the most Remote Mainframe Developer job openings:
Infographic showing various Remote Mainframe Developer job openings in California as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 100% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $109,572 per year, or $52.7 per hour.
Senior Distinguished Engineer, AI Compute (Remote Eligible)

Senior Distinguished Engineer, AI Compute (Remote Eligible)

Capital One

San Francisco, CA • On-site, Remote

$144K - $190K/yr

Full-time

This job post has expired today. Applications are no longer accepted.


Capital One rating

7.8

Company rating: 7.8 out of 10

Based on 144 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

75th of 150 rated banks


Job description

Senior Distinguished Engineer, AI Compute (Remote Eligible)
At Capital One, we are creating responsible and reliable AI systems, changing banking for good. For years, Capital One has been an industry leader in using machine learning to create real-time, personalized customer experiences. Our investments in technology infrastructure and world-class talent - along with our deep experience in machine learning - position us to be at the forefront of enterprises leveraging AI. From informing customers about unusual charges to answering their questions in real time, our applications of AI & ML are bringing humanity and simplicity to banking. We are committed to continuing to build world-class applied science and engineering teams to deliver our industry leading capabilities with breakthrough product experiences and scalable, high-performance AI infrastructure. At Capital One, you will help bring the transformative power of emerging AI capabilities to reimagine how we serve our customers and businesses who have come to love the products and services we build.
Team Description:
The Capital One machine learning platform organization manages our cloud-based enterprise AI+ML system delivering the high-scale developer and runtime environments required to build, orchestrate, and deploy compute and data intensive AI systems across real-time and batch workloads. We are seeking a Senior Distinguished Engineer, a hands-on technical leader passionate about distributed systems, to engineer and scale foundational compute capabilities for our platform.
You will use your experience in building large scale, highly available and high performance systems to develop our common compute infrastructure on top of CPU and GPU substrates. Your contributions will power everything from developer notebooks to ML / DL model training, model inference and feature generation pipelines to pre-training and fine tuning Transformer-based models as well as generative AI inference and agentic applications. Your depth of expertise in technologies including Golang and Python programming languages, popular distributed compute frameworks including Spark / Dask / Ray / Flink, container (e.g., Kubernetes) and serverless (e.g., AWS Lambda) runtime environments, and ML+AI workload patterns will provide an amplifying technical element that is paramount to our team's success.
In this role, you will :
  • Architect and build control and data plane implementations required to realize a highly available, multi-tenant, large scale and a secure machine learning platform
  • Develop Ray and Spark distributed compute engine solutions to accelerate diverse workloads from LLM pre-training and reinforcement learning to large-scale data processing, while maximizing compute unit economics
  • Engineer systemic improvements for operational excellence including automating KTLO (Keep The Lights On) workflows
  • Direct the technical execution of a diverse project portfolio, collaborating with developers specializing in everything ranging from distributed microservices to running large foundation models
  • Work cross-functionally with product and program management disciplines, and stakeholder and partners across Capital One to help optimize business outcomes while driving towards strong technology solutions
  • Share your passion for staying on top of tech trends, experimenting with and learning new technologies, participating in internal & external technology communities, and leading system design and code review sessions
  • Help elevate the Capital One Distinguished Engineering community and establish yourself as a go-to resource on given technologies and technology-enabled capabilities
  • Lead the way in creating next-generation talent, mentoring internal talent and actively recruiting external talent to bolster the Capital One tech talent pool

Capital One is open to hiring a Remote Employee for this opportunity
Basic Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, AI, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields plus at least 10 years of experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies, or a Master's degree in Computer Science, AI, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields plus at least 8 years of experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies
  • At least 10 years of experience programming with Python, Go, Scala, or Java

Preferred Qualifications :
  • Master's Degree in Computer Science or a Master's Degree in Software Engineering
  • Hands on experience in the internals of Ray (Actors/GCS/Scheduling) or Spark (Query Optimizer/Memory Management)
  • Experience building platforms that support LLM training, fine-tuning, or high-throughput inference
  • Hands-on experience with AWS-specific compute primitives (EKS, EC2 UltraClusters, Graviton) and cost-optimization strategies
  • History of upstream contributions to major distributed systems projects

Capital One will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization for this position.
The minimum and maximum full-time annual salaries for this role are listed below, by location. Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within one of these locations, and refers to the amount Capital One is willing to pay at the time of this posting. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked.
Remote (Regardless of Location): $286,200 - $326,700 for Sr. Distinguished AI Engineer
Cambridge, MA: $314,800 - $359,300 for Sr. Distinguished AI Engineer
McLean, VA: $314,800 - $359,300 for Sr. Distinguished AI Engineer
New York, NY: $343,400 - $392,000 for Sr. Distinguished AI Engineer
Richmond, VA: $286,200 - $326,700 for Sr. Distinguished AI Engineer
San Francisco, CA: $343,400 - $392,000 for Sr. Distinguished AI Engineer
San Jose, CA: $343,400 - $392,000 for Sr. Distinguished AI Engineer
Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered to any candidate at the time of hire will be reflected solely in the candidate's offer letter.
This role is also eligible to earn performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non discretionary depending on the plan.
Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being. Learn more at the Capital One Careers website. Eligibility varies based on full or part-time status, exempt or non-exempt status, and management level.
This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.
No agencies please. Capital One is an equal opportunity employer (EOE, including disability/vet) committed to non-discrimination in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Capital One promotes a drug-free workplace. Capital One will consider for employment qualified applicants with a criminal history in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable laws regarding criminal background inquiries, including, to the extent applicable, Article 23-A of the New York Correction Law; San Francisco, California Police Code Article 49, Sections 4901-4920; New York City's Fair Chance Act; Philadelphia's Fair Criminal Records Screening Act; and other applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding criminal background inquiries.
If you have visited our website in search of information on employment opportunities or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Capital One Recruiting at 1-800-304-9102 or via email at RecruitingAccommodation@capitalone.com. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.
For technical support or questions about Capital One's recruiting process, please send an email to Careers@capitalone.com
Capital One does not provide, endorse nor guarantee and is not liable for third-party products, services, educational tools or other information available through this site.
Capital One Financial is made up of several different entities. Please note that any position posted in Canada is for Capital One Canada, any position posted in the United Kingdom is for Capital One Europe and any position posted in the Philippines is for Capital One Philippines Service Corp. (COPSSC).

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