IT PROGRAMMER ANALYST, LEAD/ ADVANCED (Senior Mainframe Developer)

Introduction

If you are looking for an exciting career with great benefits, pension, generous leave, competitive salary, and the opportunity for advancement and professional growth, apply to join the DPSCS team today!\r\nThe Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) is seeking dedicated candidates to fill important roles within our department. We are one of the largest departments in Maryland with nearly 12,000 employees and a budget of more than $1 billion. In order to fulfill our mission of promoting safety, we have increased security at our institutions while leading the way in innovative restorative justice projects that will help offenders reintegrate into society upon release.\r\nAs a member of the DPSCS team, you can have a fulfilling career, while also enjoying a wide range of benefits such as medical and dental coverage, paid time off (i.e. vacation, sick leave), becoming vested in the State pension, supplemental retirement options, and even joining the Maryland State Employees Credit Union.\r\n�\r\n\r\n

GRADE

20\r\n

LOCATION OF POSITION

6776 Reisterstown Rd. Baltimore MD 21215\r\n

POSITION DUTIES

The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) is seeking a highly experienced senior mainframe developer to serve as a lead technical expert for the design, enhancement, and sustainability of critical legacy applications. This senior-level role provides technical leadership in the modernization and migration of the Computerized Criminal History (CCH) system, ensuring seamless integration between legacy and emerging platforms.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Provide technical leadership in the development, maintenance, and modernization of DPSCS legacy mainframe applications.\r\n Lead code reviews and design sessions, ensuring best practices in mainframe architecture, performance tuning, and maintainability.\r\n Design, implement, and optimize COBOL, CICS, JCL, DB2, IMS, VSAM, and TSO-based components within production and development environments.\r\n Champion the use of development tools such as Xpeditor, File-AID, QMF, and TSO/ISPF to streamline debugging, testing, and deployment processes\r\n Collaborate cross-functionally with project managers, QA analysts, business stakeholders, and vendors to ensure alignment between business requirements and technical solutions. \r\n Lead incident and problem management efforts, providing root cause analysis and long-term corrective action for production issues.\r\n Provide 24/7 on-call support for mission-critical systems and ensure operational continuity through proactive monitoring and redundancy planning.\r\n Contribute to modernization planning, advising leadership on strategies for integrating mainframe systems with cloud, API, or web-based platforms.\r\n Prepare and maintain comprehensive technical documentation, including architecture diagrams, interface specifications, and process workflows.\r\n Represent the mainframe development team in technical planning sessions, vendor discussions, and governance meetings.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Experience:�Six years�of experience, two years of experience designing, developing, testing, implementing and�maintaining applications systems and programs using generally accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools and an additional four years of experience converting data from project specifications by writing program code using generally accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools.\r\nNotes:\r\n1. Candidates may substitute six credit hours of coursework in application analysis and programming using generally�accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools for six months of the required experience.\r\n2. Candidates may substitute graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school�equivalency certificate and eighteen months of experience converting data from project specifications by writing program code using generally accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools for the additional four years of the required experience.\r\n3.�Candidates may substitute graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate and fifteen credit hours from an accredited college or university in systems analysis and application programming using generally accepted computer programming�languages or other developmental tools for the additional four years of the required experience.\r\n4. Candidates may substitute experience on a year-for-year basis in one of the following areas: operating computers, scheduling, controlling input and output or maintaining backups or data storage, processing data on computers, evaluating, implementing and maintaining hardware and software, for a high school education.\r\n5. Candidates may substitute the possession of a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Information Technology, Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or other information technology related field and two years of experience designing, developing, testing, implementing and maintaining applications systems and programs using generally accepted computer programming languages or other developmental tools for the required experience.\r\n6. Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a commissioned officer in Computer Systems�Programming classifications or Computer Systems Programming specialty codes in the Information Technology field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required experience.\r\n

DESIRED OR PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Experience supporting state or federal criminal justice systems or other regulated government systems.\r\nFamiliarity with CCH modernization initiatives and legacy system migration frameworks.�\r\nKnowledge of integration between mainframe systems and distributed, web-based, or cloud platforms.\r\nExperience working within Agile, DevOps, or hybrid Waterfall environments.�\r\nStrong understanding of security, compliance, and data governance within public safety systems.\r\n\r\n10+ years of progressive experience in mainframe application development and support.\r\nAdvanced proficiency/experience in COBOL, CICS, JCL, DB2, IMS, VSAM, and TSO.\r\nExpert-level experience with debugging and performance tools such as Xpeditor, File-AID, QMF, and ISPF.\r\nProven leadership in system modernization, migration planning, and legacy-to-modern integrations.\r\nExperience with MQ Series for message-based integrations and inter-system communication.\r\nStrong analytical, diagnostic, and problem-solving skills, particularly in production support of 24/7 mission-critical systems.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

Employees in this classification may be subject to call-in 24 hours a day and, therefore, may be required to provide the employing agency with a telephone number where the employee can be reached.\r\n

SELECTION PROCESS

Please make sure that you provide sufficient information on your application to show that you meet the qualifications for this recruitment. All information concerning your qualifications must be submitted by the closing date.�We will not consider information submitted after this date.�Successful candidates will be ranked as Best Qualified, Better Qualified, or Qualified and placed on the�eligible (employment) list for at least one year.\r\n

EXAMINATION PROCESS

The assessment may consist of a rating of your education, training, and experience related to the requirements of the position.�It is important that you provide complete and accurate information on your application.�Please report all experience and education that is related to this position.\r\n

BENEFITS

As an employee of the State of Maryland, you will have access to outstanding benefits, including: health insurance, dental, and vision plans offered at a low cost.\r\nCLICK ON THIS LINK FOR MORE DETAILS:�STATE OF MARYLAND BENEFITS\r\n��Personal Leave - new State employees are awarded six (6) personnel days annually (prorated based on start date)\r\n��Annual Leave - ten (10) days of accumulated annual leave per year\r\n��Sick Leave - fifteen (15) days of accumulated sick leave per year�\r\n��Parental Leave - up to sixty (60) days of paid parental leave upon the birth or adoption of a child�\r\n��Holidays - State employees also celebrate at least twelve (12) holidays per year\r\n��Pension - State employees earn credit towards a retirement pension\r\n

FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS

Online applications are highly recommended.�However, if you are unable�to apply online, the paper application and supplemental questionnaire may�be emailed to mistyd.jackson@maryland.gov. Paper application materials must be received in our office by the closing date�for the recruitment.\r\n\r\nIf you are submitting additional information, the preferred method is�to upload it with your application. All uploaded additional information�must be received by the closing date and time. If you are unable to upload, please email the requested information to mistyd.jackson@maryland.gov.�Only�additional materials that are requested will be accepted for this�recruitment.\r\n\r\nIf you are having difficulties with submitting your online�application, please contact the DBM Recruitment and Examination Division at�Application.Help@maryland.gov or 410-767-4850.\r\n\r\nWe thank our Veterans for their service to our country.\r\n\r\nPeople with disabilities and bilingual candidates are encouraged to apply.\r\n\r\nAs an equal opportunity employer, Maryland is committed to�recruiting, retaining, and promoting employees who are reflective of the�State's diversity.\r\n\r\n\r\n