Senior Mainframe COBOL Developer

Posting number: 2026-04859

Department: Office of Financial Management

Division: Information Technology Services

Job classification: EXEMPT

Posting type: Open & Promotional

Categories: IT and Computers

Summary

Note: This position will remain open until filled. It is at the hiring manager's discretion to make a hiring decision at any time and close the recruitment. It is in your best interest to apply as soon as possible. Applications will be reviewed daily. We anticipate interviews to begin the week of July 13, 2026.

Hybrid: Our physical office is in Olympia, WA. We offer flexible work schedules and locations. This is a hybrid position where most of the work allows teleworking. However, you must reside in the state of Washington and travel to in-person activities, meetings, and events as needed for business purposes.

Why work for OFM
The Office of Financial Management OFM) serves as the backbone of Washington state government. Our mission is to make our state a better place by connecting people, budgets, policies, data, and systems for state agencies and the Legislature. Our team includes budget advisors, researchers, and other experts, all dedicated public servants working towards an equitable future for every Washingtonian. If you want to play a key role in enhancing how state government serves its citizens, you’ve found the right place. Join us in making a meaningful difference for every Washingtonian!

The job opportunity
We are seeking a Senior Mainframe COBOL Developer to support the critical statewide mainframe accounting system, Agency Financial Reporting System (AFRS), and Capital Asset Management System (CAMS). In this role, the work performed ensures that AFRS and CAMS remain operational, compliant with evolving state and federal legislative requirements, and changes as required by business are implemented. You have an opportunity to play a key role in safeguarding the reliability and performance of systems that underpin core governmental operations.
 
As a Senior Mainframe COBOL Developer, you will independently design, develop, test, maintain, and support enterprise-level mainframe accounting applications written in COBOL, CICS, and JCL. Your responsibilities include implementing system changes as required by the legislature, business, and WaTech’s contracted mainframe hosting and managed service provider, resolving complex production issues, and translating detailed business and legislative requirements into technical solutions. This role demands strong analytical skills, disciplined testing practices, and the ability to sustain high-availability, mission-critical environments where precision and stability are essential.
 
This opportunity is ideal for a technical professional who thrives in complex computing environments and values meaningful impact. If you are motivated to solve complex problems and deliver resilient solutions that matter at scale, this role offers both challenge and purpose.


What you’ll work on

• Provide expert consultation and specialized analysis, design, development, programming, testing, troubleshooting, and/or problem resolution for the AFRS mainframe application, which is a high-risk/high-impact and mission-critical application written in the COBOL programming language.
• Develop and maintain batch and online applications.
• Develop and maintain JCL (Job Control Language) and support CICS-based online applications.
• Work with IBM z/OS environments, DB2 and/or VSAM file structures.
• Apply knowledge of development and processes to advise teams on the readiness of software applications to be implemented in a production environment and is knowledgeable of the effect that modifications have on related systems.
• Analyze all technical system change decisions; identify probable resulting outcomes and provide feedback to the work unit/team members and business owner.
• Solve software/hardware problems, including defining and analyzing the problem, performing impact analysis, identifying and testing solutions, choosing and implementing the best solution, documenting the changes as needed, and evaluating the outcome.
• Develop and implement standards, methods, tools, procedures, and processes.
• Review, monitor, and report development progress and results following established standards, guidelines, and procedures.
• Serve as a technical mentor to other system developers in resolving complex technical issues
• Use bug tracking tools such as Az