Job Title: Senior COBOL Engineer – Legacy Maintenance & Modernization Support

Experience: 10+ years

Engagement: Full-time

Location:

Please share COBOL profiles, preferably candidates based in Kerala who can come to our office location and work in a hybrid model.

Client interview : Yes

Role 

Take full technical ownership of the existing COBOL-based application, including knowledge transition from current onsite developer.Perform application maintenance, production support, and minor enhancements on UNIX/Cobol/PLSQL stack. Analyze, debug, and resolve incidents and defects in coordination with onsite teams.Understand and document the business processes and functional workflows of the legacy application.Collaborate with client stakeholders to gain domain knowledge and establish strong working relationships.Provide technical inputs and support to the modernization or rewrite initiative (e.g., requirement mapping, system decomposition, data migration planning).  Create and maintain technical documentation, including job flows, data mappings, and system dependencies.Suggest opportunities for performance optimization, simplification, and risk reduction in the legacy system.Participate in code reviews, quality checks, and operational readiness activities.

Key Responsibilities

Take full technical ownership of the existing COBOL-based application, including knowledge transition from current onsite developer.

Perform application maintenance, production support, and minor enhancements on UNIX/Cobol/PLSQL stack.

Analyze, debug, and resolve incidents and defects in coordination with onsite teams.

Understand and document the business processes and functional workflows of the legacy application.

Collaborate with client stakeholders to gain domain knowledge and establish strong working relationships.

Provide technical inputs and support to the modernization or rewrite initiative (e.g., requirement mapping, system decomposition, data migration planning).

Create and maintain technical documentation, including job flows, data mappings, and system dependencies.

Suggest opportunities for performance optimization, simplification, and risk reduction in the legacy system.

Participate in code reviews, quality checks, and operational readiness activities.

Required Skills & Experience

Core: COBOL programming (Micro Focus/Mainframe to UNIX environment)

Database: PL/SQL, Oracle

OS/Environment: UNIX/Linux – shell scripting, job scheduling (e.g., Cron, Control-M)

Strong analytical and debugging skills across complex batch and transactional systems

Experience in production support and incident resolution for critical business applications

Hands-on experience in understanding and refactoring legacy code

Good understanding of SDLC, ITSM, and change management processes

Excellent communication and client engagement skills — ability to build confidence with business users

Proven ability to work independently with minimal supervision

Desirable Skills

Exposure to modernization or rewrite projects (e.g., migration from COBOL to Java/.NET/cloud-native)

Experience in reverse engineering and documenting legacy systems

Familiarity with version control systems (Git, Bitbucket) and CI/CD tools

Domain knowledge in Finance and Accounting 

Good to Have: 

Exposure to modernization or rewrite projects (e.g., migration from COBOL to Java/.NET/cloud-native)