Technical Lead - Mainframe / ESB Integration

Technical Lead - Mainframe / ESB Integration

Position Description
We are seeking a highly skilled and dynamic Integration Technical Lead to oversee and drive the engineering squads responsible for our mainframe-to-cloud data migration stream. This role demands a unique combination of deep technical versatility—spanning legacy mainframe architectures, mid-tier enterprise service buses (ESB), and cloud-native REST APIs—alongside strong people and work-management capabilities.
As the Tech Lead, you will be responsible for translating high-level enterprise architecture designs into actionable engineering tasks, managing sprint delivery, and providing hands-on mentorship to a diverse team of Mainframe, ESB, and API developers.

Implementation Project Context

. This role is positioned at the execution core of a flagship, multi-year enterprise database migration and cloud transformation initiative. The program is modernizing how core business and customer data is exchanged by systematically migrating legacy mainframe environments to the AWS Cloud.
. To achieve this without business disruption, our integration stream is building a high-throughput, near real-time data pathway. Legacy mainframe modules (COBOL, PL/I, CICS, DB2, JCL) are being refactored to push data into IBM MQ, which is then ingested, transformed, and routed by IBM ACE middleware, and finally exposed via modern enterprise REST APIs to downstream cloud applications.
. As the Tech Lead, you will own the delivery velocity, technical quality, and cross-tier collaboration of the developers making this pipeline a reality.

Your future duties and responsibilities
Technical Delivery & Oversight

. End-to-End Code Quality: Ensure high-quality, performant, and resilient engineering standards across the entire integration stack (Mainframe batch/online modules, IBM ACE message flows, and REST APIs).
. Technical Bridge-Building: Serve as the primary technical point of contact to align data structures and logic between the Mainframe, ESB, and Cloud/API development teams.
. Code Reviews & Design Validation: Conduct multi-disciplinary code reviews to ensure that refactored mainframe queues map perfectly to ESB transformation flows and target API contracts.
. Problem Resolution: Act as the escalation point for complex technical blockages, integration bugs, and performance bottlenecks across the end-to-end data pipeline.

Leadership & Work Management

. Sprint & Backlog Management: Collaborate with Product Owners and Project Managers to break down architectural blueprints into clear, estimated user stories and technical tasks for the developers.
. Resource Allocation: Manage the daily workload, sprint velocity, and task assignments for Mainframe, ESB, and API developers, ensuring proper alignment of skills to delivery milestones.
. Team Mentorship & Growth: Foster a collaborative, DevOps-oriented culture within a traditionally siloed technical environment. Mentor developers across different disciplines to help them understand the broader end-to-end architecture.
. Cross-Functional Liaison: Coordinate closely with the Senior Enterprise Architect, Cloud Infrastructure teams, and downstream business consumers to manage dependencies and release schedules.

Required qualifications to be successful in this role
. Core Technical Experience
. Mainframe Familiarity: Strong working knowledge of mainframe environments, including COBOL, PL/I, JCL, CICS, and DB2. Ability to comfortably review mainframe code and understand legacy data layouts.
. Middleware & ESB Expertise: Solid hands-on background in IBM App Connect Enterprise (ACE) and enterprise messaging infrastructure (IBM MQ).
. API & Cloud Knowledge: Strong experience designing, building, and securing modern REST APIs and microservices. Familiarity with AWS integration services (Lambda, API Gateway, SQS/SNS) is highly desirable.
. Leadership & Management Capabilities
. Engineering Leadership: 3+ years of experience leading technical teams, managing development tasks, and driving sprint delivery in an Agile/Scrum environment.
. Communication & Collaboration: Exceptional communication skills, with a proven ability to translate complex mainframe paradigms to cloud developers, and vice versa.
. Analytical Mindset: Strong problem-solving skills with a track record of successfully delivering complex, multi-tiered system integration projects.
. General Background
. Undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
. 10+ years of total software engineering experience, with at least 2-3 years in a dedicated technical lead or pod lead capacity.

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CGI is providing a reasonable estimate of the pay range for this role. The determination of this range includes various factors including but not limited to skill set level, geographic market, experience and training, and licenses and certifications. Compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is $85,000 - $160,000.

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