Senior Mainframe Performance Engineer

Job Summary:

We are seeking a highly experienced and analytical z/OS PCM Expert to join our mainframe infrastructure team. This role is responsible for ensuring optimal performance, capacity planning, and proactive monitoring of z/OS systems. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in system performance analysis, workload management, SMF/RMF data interpretation, capacity forecasting, and vendor collaboration. This role is critical to maintaining the health, efficiency, and scalability of enterprise mainframe environments.

Key Responsibilities:

Performance Management & Optimization

• Monitor and analyze z/OS system performance using RMF, SMF, and IntelliMagic Vision.
• Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks across CPU, memory, I/O, and network subsystems.
• Tune WLM policies and system parameters to optimize workload distribution and throughput.
• Collaborate with application and infrastructure teams to improve end-to-end performance.

Capacity Planning & LPAR Assessment

• Forecast resource usage trends and plan for future capacity needs.
• Conduct LPAR sizing assessments and recommend changes to PR/SM configurations.
• Develop and maintain capacity models using historical SMF/RMF data.
• Provide input for hardware upgrades, workload balancing, and infrastructure scaling.

Monitoring & Automation

• Implement and maintain real-time monitoring solutions using tools like Omegamon, Mainview, and IntelliMagic.
• BMC AMI ops knowledge a plus.
• Develop automated alerts and dashboards for proactive issue detection and SLA tracking.
• Integrate monitoring data with enterprise observability platforms and reporting systems.

Reporting & Analysis

• Generate regular performance and capacity reports for technical and executive stakeholders.
• Present findings and strategic recommendations based on data-driven analysis.
• Maintain documentation of performance baselines, tuning activities, and capacity forecasts.

Vendor Collaboration

• Work closely with IBM, BMC, IntelliMagic, and other vendors to evaluate, implement, and optimize performance tools and solutions.
• Coordinate with vendors during tool upgrades, performance assessments, and issue resolution.
• Participate in product roadmap discussions and provide feedback for enhancements.

Collaboration & Support

• Work closely with z/OS system programmers, DB2 DBAs, MQ administrators, and application owners.
• Participate in incident response and root cause analysis for performance-related outages.
• Support disaster recovery and business continuity planning from a performance standpoint.

Required Skills and Experience:

• 8+ years of experience in z/OS performance and capacity management.
• Expert-level knowledge of SMF, RMF, WLM, and z/OS internals.
• Hands-on experience with IntelliMagic Vision, Omegamon, Mainview, or equivalent tools.
• Strong analytical skills in interpreting system metrics and logs.
• Proficiency in REXX, SAS, or Python for data analysis and automation.
• Familiarity with LPAR configuration, PR/SM, and z/OS hardware architecture.
• Experience working with vendors on tool deployment and optimization.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills.

Desired Skills and Experience:

• Experience with AI-driven performance analytics platforms.
• Knowledge of z/OS Connect, zCX, and hybrid cloud performance considerations.
• Exposure to DevOps and observability practices in mainframe environments.
• Understanding of capacity licensing models (e.g., zCAP, MSU, SCRT).

Certifications:

• IBM Certified Specialist – System z Performance and Capacity Management (
  Preferred
  )