Senior Cobol Developer

Location: Trenton, NJ Position Type: Onsite Contract Length: 6 months + extensionsPosition Overview: We are seeking a Senior COBOL Developer to support the analysis, design, enhancement, and maintenance of complex legacy mainframe applications. This role will focus on evaluating existing systems, developing and modifying COBOL and NATURAL programs, supporting batch and online processing, and ensuring the stability and performance of mission-critical applications. The ideal candidate will bring strong expertise in COBOL, JCL, NATURAL, and ADABAS, along with experience troubleshooting production issues, supporting system integrations, and collaborating with cross-functional technical teams in large enterprise environments.

Duties:

• Participate in development efforts supporting the project involving multiple legacy mainframe applications
• Analyze existing legacy systems and provide code walkthroughs, logic analysis, and technical documentation to ITS development teams
• Design, develop, modify, test, and maintain COBOL and NATURAL programs, along with associated JCL jobs, based on functional specifications and enhancement requests
• Perform ongoing maintenance and enhancements to batch and online mainframe applications
• Troubleshoot and resolve production issues, job failures, and system abends, including root cause analysis and corrective actions
• Analyze ADABAS database structures, files, and access methods to support application development and system integration
• Develop and maintain data feeds, file layouts, and interface processes between legacy systems and modernized ITS components
• Participate in system design reviews, technical planning sessions, and code reviews
• Produce and maintain technical documentation, including program specifications, data definitions, job flows, and system architecture documentation
• Support system testing, integration testing, and user acceptance testing UAT
• Implement best practices for mainframe development, including coding standards, version control, and change management
• Assist with performance tuning and optimization of batch jobs, database access, and program execution
• Provide production support for mission‑critical applications and collaborate closely with analysts, architects, and development teams

Required Skills:

• Advanced experience with COBOL programming in enterprise mainframe environments
• Strong expertise in JCL development and job scheduling
• Extensive experience with NATURAL programming
• Working knowledge of ADABAS database architecture and file structures
• Experience analyzing and maintaining large legacy mainframe codebases
• Strong troubleshooting and debugging skills for batch and online applications
• Experience with system integration, data interfaces, and file transfer processes
• Proficiency with mainframe utilities, debugging tools, and job monitoring tools
• Strong documentation and communication skills
• Ability to work independently while coordinating with multiple technical teams

Preferred Skills:

• Experience supporting taxation or government revenue systems
• Familiarity with CICS and online transaction processing environments
• Experience with data migration or modernization projects involving legacy mainframe applications
• Knowledge of mainframe security, scheduling systems, and source code management tools
• Experience working within large‑scale enterprise or government IT environments