Senior Software Engineer ( IBM Assembler )

Job Description Summary:

The Senior Software Engineer designs, develops, troubleshoots, debugs, and sets the direction for the design and implementation of software features/functionality/enhancements, correction of defects, and/or the creation of new products. Develops software tools including operating systems, utilities, databases, and Internet-related tools. Determines software’s compatibility with hardware and/or influences software's design in relation to hardware.

Position Reports to: Manager, Software Engineering

Job Overview:

The Senior Software Engineer designs, develops, troubleshoots, debugs, and sets the direction for the design and implementation of software features/functionality/enhancements, correction of defects, and/or the creation of new products. Develops software tools including operating systems, compilers, routers, networks, utilities, databases, and Internet-related tools. Determines software’s compatibility with hardware and/or influences software's design in relation to hardware. Must have the following skills:

• Assembler Programming: 5+ years of hands-on experience in low-level programming for performance-critical systems.
• System Debugging: Expert in IPCS dump analysis and system-level debugging tools to identify and resolve abends and performance issues.
• Software Development & Maintenance: Proven ability to design, implement, and maintain robust software solutions in enterprise environments.
• Root Cause Analysis: Skilled in diagnosing and resolving system failures and crashes through detailed analysis and testing.
• Mainframe & OS-Level Expertise: Strong understanding of operating system internals and mainframe environments.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Review and provide feedback on designs.
• Takes ownership of the design and development of features within their component.
• Recognizes and practically solves for anti-patterns.
• Good understanding of how his/her work aligns with high-level use cases and team deliverables.
• Define (more than a feature, less than a product) a component that fits into an architecture.
• Describe and defend design decisions for components owned by the team.
• Optimize software design to leverage platform capabilities.
• Acts as the technical subject matter expert for a product domain.
• Quantify and communicate work estimates and risks to direct management.
• Handle multiple competing priorities with minimal help.
• Understand features as a whole and able to break down larger stories and features into tasks.
• Familiar with most of the technologies we focus on and what markets they target.
• Takes ownership of customer issues and effectively communicate with Support/SEs to resolve field questions/issues.
• Discuss with customers what larger concerns and problems they are trying to solve, over and above the immediate technical concerns.
• Willingness to teach and grow junior team members.
• Excellent listening skills. Effectively works within the team and across teams.
• Ensures all tasks are completed thoroughly and that any work done is tested, unit tested, documented, and ready for customers.
• Takes identified problems and concerns and create a plan to fix the problem and prevent it from occurring again.
• Follows through on all tasks.
• Reliably delivers expected work products and outcomes.
• Imparts a sense of urgency on junior team members.

Required Qualifications: Assembler Programming

• Proficient in low-level programming using Assembler for mainframe or embedded systems.
• Deep understanding of hardware-software interaction and memory management.
• Skilled in optimizing performance-critical code and handling system interrupts.

System-Level Debugging

• Expertise in analyzing IPCS dumps to diagnose and resolve system abends (abnormal terminations).
• Familiarity with system-level diagnostic tools (e.g., IPCS, TRACE, SLIP, LOGREC).
• Ability to interpret hexadecimal and binary data for root cause analysis.

Software Development & Maintenance

• Experience in designing, implementing, and maintaining system software components.
• Strong grasp of software lifecycle management in enterprise environments.
• Skilled in refactoring legacy code and integrating new features into existing systems.

Problem Solving & Root Cause Analysis

• Proven ability to troubleshoot complex system issues and implement long-term fixes.
• Experience in performance tuning and reliability improvements.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Mainframe Systems Knowledge: Familiarity with z/OS, JES2/JES3, TSO/ISPF, and other IBM mainframe subsystems.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Works effectively with QA, DevOps, and support teams to resolve production issues.
• Documentation & Reporting: Capable of producing clear technical documentation and incident reports.

Education:

Bachelors/Masters degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Travel Requirements:

0-10%

• Job Family Group: Engineering
• Job Family: Software & Quality Assurance Engineering
• Job Profile Name: Senior Software Engineer
• Employee Type: Individual Contributor
• Job Level: P4 (Advanced)

Rocket Software Inc. is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Rocket Software Inc. is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

Rocket is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you need special assistance or an accommodation while seeking employment, please call: 781-577-4321 or send an email to people@rocketsoftware.com. We will make a determination on your request for reasonable accommodation on a case-by-case basis.

*If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!*