Mainframe Infrastructure Integration Architect

Experience : 12+ Years

About Creospan :

Creospan is a subsidiary of Creospan Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Established in 1999, the company helps clients leverage emerging technologies to build next-generation products. Its expertise spans Telecom, Technology, Manufacturing, E-commerce, Insurance, Banking, Transportation, and Healthcare.

Job Summary :

Creospan is seeking an experienced Mainframe Infrastructure Integration Architect to lead infrastructure readiness and integration for an ACF2-to-RACF migration across production, disaster recovery (DR), and test environments. The role focuses on IBM Z/z/OS infrastructure, security integration, IPL and fallback readiness, disaster recovery validation, and cross-functional issue resolution.

Key Responsibilities :

- Lead infrastructure readiness for RACF activation and ACF2-to-RACF migration.

- Validate z/OS parmlib/proclib, IPL, JES2, Parallel Sysplex, SMF, WLM, RMF, and system exits.

- Assess RACF impacts across USS, TCP/IP, AT-TLS, certificates, keyrings, z/OSMF, and automation.

- Coordinate started task, service, batch, operations, and automation IDs with the RACF security model.

- Validate impacts on SMS, HSM, catalogs, GDPS, backup and restore, tape management, and DR procedures.

- Troubleshoot authorization and infrastructure issues using RACF messages, SMF, JES, TCP/IP, USS logs, and IPCS.

- Define pre- and post-IPL validation, fallback procedures, DR checks, and cutover readiness.

- Review implementation plans, runbooks, root cause analyses (RCAs), recovery procedures, and audit evidence.

- Provide infrastructure risk assessments and readiness inputs for migration go/no-go decisions.

Required Skills and Qualifications :

- 12+ years of experience in IBM Z/z/OS infrastructure or systems programming.

- Strong expertise in z/OS, Parallel Sysplex, JES2, USS, TCP/IP, storage, automation, and disaster recovery.

- Hands-on experience with RACF; ACF2-to-RACF migration or coexistence experience is preferred.

- Knowledge of RACF classes and controls, including STARTED, SURROGAT, OPERCMDS, FACILITY, UNIXPRIV, DIGTCERT, and keyrings.

- Experience with SMS, HSM, GDPS, catalogs, backup and restore, and dataset security.

- Experience with NetView/System Automation, scheduler interfaces, and regulated production environments.

- Strong understanding of change governance, fallback planning, and DR validation.

Preferred Qualifications :

- Exposure to z/OSMF, zSecure, and GDPS tooling.

- Experience with Ansible for Z and Git-based configuration management.

- Relevant IBM certifications in z/OS, RACF, Parallel Sysplex, GDPS, or Storage.