QA Manager - Mainframe Modernization -(100% Remote)

One of our clients a Healthcare Product development company currently looking forward to hire QA Manager- with strong background on Mainframes technology Mainframe (COBOL, IMS, DB2, JCL, VSAM, CICS)

Title: QA Manager - Mainframe Modernization -(100% Remote)

Location : (100% Remote) - Anywhere in the USA /Remote

Experience : 10-12 years

Visa Status: Candidates must be authorized to work in USA without employer sponsorship.

Tech Stack:

• Mainframe (COBOL, IMS, DB2, JCL, VSAM, CICS)
• AWS
• Go
• Python
• AI-Assisted Testing

Role Overview:

We are looking for a manager QA Engineer with hands-on mainframe (MF) knowledge across COBOL, IMS, and DB2 to validate our mainframe-to-AWS modernization program. This role has two parts that carry equal weight: understanding how the legacy platform behaves today well enough to define what "correct" looks like, and building Python and Go automation that proves the modernized AWS workloads produce the same results. You will own and lead the team and own the test strategy for parallel runs, data migration validation, batch equivalence, and cutover readiness, working closely with mainframe developers, cloud engineers, and architects.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the test strategy, plans, and coverage for mainframe modernization workstreams (replatform and refactor), including functional, regression, integration, performance, and cutover testing
• Read and analyze COBOL, JCL, PL/I, and copybooks to derive test conditions, boundary cases, and expected results from business logic embedded in legacy code
• Execute and validate batch and online scenarios on z/OS, including JCL job streams, CICS and IMS DC transactions, and scheduler dependencies in CA-7 or Control-M
• Run parallel tests by feeding identical inputs to the legacy and modernized systems, diffing outputs at field level, and classifying each difference (defect, expected variance, rounding, or encoding)
• Validate data migration from DB2 z/OS, IMS DB, VSAM, and flat files to AWS targets (Aurora/PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, S3, Redshift), including row counts, checksums, field-level reconciliation, and COMP-3 to decimal precision and rounding checks
• Verify batch job equivalence: job sequence, return codes, restart and recovery behavior, and scheduling dependencies, including batch chains replaced by AWS Step Functions, SQS, SNS, and EventBridge
• Build and maintain automated test frameworks in Python (pytest, boto3, pandas) and use Go for high-throughput utilities such as large-file reconciliation and load generation
• Test APIs and new web front ends that replace 3270 screens, using requests/httpx, Postman/Newman, Pact, Playwright, or Selenium
• Plan and run performance, batch window comparison, failover, and rollback rehearsals ahead of each cutover
• Build test data by masking, subsetting, and generating synthetic data from production-like mainframe extracts, and confirm no unmasked PHI or member data reaches non-production AWS environments
• Integrate automated suites into CI/CD (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, AWS CodePipeline/CodeBuild) and provision repeatable test environments with Terraform or CloudFormation, Docker, and ECS/EKS
• Log, triage, and track defects in Jira, and publish results through Allure or pytest-html with clear evidence for release sign-off
• Follow change management, testing, and compliance practices appropriate for business-critical systems
• Mentor QA engineers on mainframe testing concepts and modernization test practices

Required Skills

Required Qualifications Mandatory – Mainframe Testing

• 10-12 years of software testing experience, including at least 4 years testing mainframe applications or mainframe data
• Ability to read COBOL and JCL, with working knowledge of PL/I, copybooks, and EBCDIC vs ASCII handling
• Hands-on experience with DB2 for z/OS (SQL, query validation), IMS DB (segments, hierarchical data), and IMS DC transactions
• Experience with VSAM and fixed-width flat files, including packed decimal (COMP-3) fields
• Experience with CICS, TSO/ISPF, 3270 emulators, and batch schedulers (CA-7 or Control-M)
• Strong Python test automation skills, with pytest as the primary framework and pandas for data comparison
• Working proficiency in Go for building supporting test and reconciliation utilities
• Working knowledge of core AWS services (S3, Lambda, RDS/Aurora, DMS, IAM, CloudWatch) sufficient to test mainframe workloads running on AWS
• Hands-on experience designing parallel run, data migration validation, and batch equivalence tests
• Strong SQL skills across DB2 and PostgreSQL
• Experience with Git, Jira, and CI/CD pipelines
• Strong written and verbal communication to bridge legacy mainframe teams and cloud engineering teams

Good to have Skills

• Experience with Healthcare domain