Lead Programmer Analyst – COBOL
Location: St. Louis, MO 63131
Work arrangement: Hybrid onsite every Tuesday and Wednesday
Pay: $50.00–$55.00 per hour W2
Employment type: W2 contract-to-hire
Conversion salary up to $100K base
This position is available on a W2 basis only. No C2C, C2C referrals or sponsorships will be considered.
Position Overview
We are seeking a hands-on Lead Programmer Analyst with strong COBOL development experience to support highly reliable payment and transactional systems. This individual will design, develop, test and maintain complex online and batch applications while helping lead projects and mentor other developers.
Because these applications support critical financial transactions, the successful candidate must understand high-availability environments where uptime, accuracy, comprehensive testing and end-to-end ownership are essential.
Key Responsibilities
- Design new systems and enhancements to existing applications.
- Develop, modify, test and document structured, maintainable COBOL programs.
- Build and support complex online and batch-processing applications.
- Troubleshoot application issues, balancing problems and production-related concerns.
- Ensure systems are reliable, efficient and aligned with established development standards.
- Lead assigned development projects and coordinate work across technical teams.
- Mentor less-experienced programmers and share technical knowledge.
- Partner with business requestors to understand requirements, validate business needs and demonstrate completed solutions.
- Develop project estimates and provide regular updates regarding schedules, risks and progress.
- Identify opportunities to improve development processes, application quality and responsiveness.
- Take ownership of assigned applications from design and development through testing and implementation.
Required Qualifications
- COBOL programming experience is required.
- At least five years of hands-on COBOL development experience.
- At least five years of increasingly complex application or project development experience.
- Experience developing and supporting online and batch-processing applications.
- Ability to write, maintain and explain structured COBOL code.
- Experience supporting highly reliable, business-critical or transactional systems.
- Strong testing, troubleshooting and production-support skills.
- Experience leading projects, coordinating development activities or mentoring other programmers.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
- Ability to work onsite in St. Louis every Tuesday and Wednesday.
Preferred Experience
- HP/HPE NonStop or Tandem experience
- Experience with Tandem utilities, SCOBOL/Screen COBOL, Pathway or other NonStop technologies.
- IBM mainframe COBOL experience or experience working in an environment converted to HPE NonStop.
- Experience supporting payment-processing, financial-transaction or other high-availability systems.
- Knowledge of systems requiring continuous uptime, strong operational reliability and precise transaction balancing.
Benefits can be offered
Eligible W2 employees may have access to benefits requiring an employee contribution, including:
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- Flexible spending accounts
- Life insurance
- Retirement plan
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. Compensation within the listed range will depend on the candidate’s experience and qualifications.
Pay: $50.00 - $55.00 per hour
Benefits:
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: Hybrid remote in St. Louis, MO 63131
