IBM i (AS400) Developer with COBOL Experience

We are looking for an experienced IBM i (AS/400) Developer with practical COBOL experience to support a legacy modernization project involving COBOL and IBM i runtime functionality.

The initial engagement will focus on a small technical assessment and development pilot. You will review existing documentation and reference examples, clarify the expected behavior, and implement or recreate a limited backend function in an IBM i environment.

What we're looking for

• Strong hands-on experience with IBM i / AS400
• Practical development experience with COBOL on IBM i (ILE COBOL, COBOL/400, or equivalent)
• Good working knowledge of CL / CLP (Control Language)
• Solid understanding of core IBM i concepts, including:
  • Libraries
  • Physical files and file members
  • Jobs and program execution
  • File overrides
• Experience compiling, debugging, and troubleshooting applications directly on IBM i
• Ability to understand existing legacy code and documentation and reproduce the intended system behavior
• Ability to work independently when some technical requirements need to be clarified during the assessment

COBOL does not need to be your primary technology, but hands-on experience with COBOL is important for this project. Experience with other legacy technologies or legacy modernization projects is also relevant.

Responsibilities

• Review existing IBM i, COBOL, and CL documentation and reference examples
• Help clarify the expected behavior and technical requirements of the initial pilot
• Implement, modify, or recreate selected backend functionality on IBM i
• Work with IBM i libraries, physical files, file members, jobs, and related runtime logic
• Compile, debug, and test COBOL and CL programs in an IBM i environment
• Validate implemented behavior against available examples and test cases
• Identify missing technical information or dependencies required for implementation
• Document important assumptions and implementation decisions

Nice to have

• Experience with legacy modernization projects
• Experience working with or migrating legacy applications to Java or other modern technologies
• Experience analyzing existing legacy systems where documentation is incomplete
• Experience with other IBM i development technologies

What to expect

This is a focused technical engagement where your ability to understand existing IBM i/COBOL functionality and reproduce its behavior will be more important than experience with a specific modern technology stack.

If you have solid IBM i experience and have worked with COBOL at some point in your career, we would be happy to hear from you.