The role
COBOL applications, backed by the legendary resilience, security, and scalability of IBM Z, are among global enterprises’ most valuable assets. They run mission-critical operations with business logic that is unique to the respective organization.
We are hiring a Principal Compiler Architect to own the technical direction of the compiler part of our JOPAZ product, and to grow into leading the team that builds it.
What you'll do
• Own the compiler end to end
• Guard correctness as the top priority
• Define and defend how COBOL semantics map onto the JVM so that compiled programs are behaviorally equivalent to native execution
• Drive performance on the JVM
• Set the technical roadmap for the optimization strategy, make cross-cutting design decisions, and keep the codebase coherent as it grows
• Collaborate across the product, including mainframe connectivity layers
• Grow into technical and people leadership
What we're looking for (must-have)
• Proven,
end-to-end compiler construction experience – you have built or substantially contributed to a production compiler; not just used compiler frameworks.
• Multi-year JVM code expertise
• Correctness and semantics engineering
• Architecture-level judgment for optimization strategies
• Ability to make and defend cross-cutting technical decisions in a long-lived codebase
• Technical leadership instincts (mentoring engineers, communicate designs clearly)
Solid plus-points (not required)
• Hands-on COBOL knowledge, or experience with another legacy/ business language and its habits
• z/OS experience: Java on z/OS, zIIP and specialty-engine offload, JCL/batch, …
• Verification at scale, differential testing, conformance suites, fuzzing, or formal methods