Sr Software Engineer iSeries

Job Description

Job Objective

The iSeries Production Support Engineer is responsible for the stability, availability, and performance of mission-critical applications at the Mattel Asia Manufacturing facility (China and Southeast Asia) and of in-house-developed applications on the IBM i (iSeries/AS/400) platform. This role provides L2/L3 support, including incident response, batch/job scheduling via CA Scheduler, HA/DR support, performance troubleshooting, and release/change activities. You’ll partner closely with application developers (RPG/CL), infrastructure administrators, business analysts, and business stakeholders to minimize downtime, protect data integrity, and ensure timely batch completion.

Key Responsibilities

Production Support / Incident Management

• Provide L2/L3 production support for IBM iSeries applications built in RPG (RPGLE/ILE), CL/CLLE and SQL on Db2 for iSeries
• Monitor application health, system logs, and performance metrics, and identify potential issues.
• Analyze, troubleshoot and resolve production incidents within defined SLA timelines.
• Perform root cause analysis (RCA) and implement permanent fixes or preventive measures.
• Handle on-call support and incident escalations as required.

Application and System Maintenance

• Support application deployments, hotfixes, and patches in production environments.
• Perform configuration changes and environment validation across the Development, UAT, and Production environments.
• Ensure application uptime, reliability, and data integrity.
• Coordinate with infrastructure teams on server, database, and network-related activities

Monitor & Performance

• Monitor application performance  

• Identify performance bottlenecks and work with development teams to optimize applications.
• Track recurring incidents and recommend improvements.

Collaboration & Communication

• Work closely with application development teams to understand application design and business expectations

• Communicate effectively with business users and stakeholders during incidents and outages (P1 and P2)
• Participate in release planning, post-release validation, and post-incident reviews.

Document & Compliance

• Maintain production supports documentation, runbooks, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Document known issues, workarounds, and fixes.
• Ensure compliance with organizational change management and security standards.

Required Skills & Qualifications

Technical Skills

• Strong hands‑on experience with IBM i (iSeries/AS/400) operations
• Proficiency in RPG (RPGLE/ILE) and CL/CLLE; solid knowledge of SQL/Db2 for i (querying, tuning, access paths).
• Practical experience administering CA Job Scheduler on IBM i (job definitions, calendars, dependencies, notifications).
• Familiarity with HA/DR technologies on IBM i (e.g., MIMIX, PowerHA, or similar): monitoring replication, audits, and role swaps.
• Understanding of ITIL processes (Incident, Problem, Change, Knowledge).

Soft Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work under pressure in high-availability production environments (supporting manufacturing plants expected shorter resolution time)
• Strong communication and presentation skills with end users and business stakeholders
• Strong attention to detail and documentation discipline.

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Degree in computer science, Information Technology or related field (or equivalent experience)
• Min 5 years of experience in iSeries / application development or support area
• Understanding of manufacturing back office, shop floor operation and trading companies’ operation is value added
• Eager to work on-call or non regular hours (Asia time zone) whenever necessary
• Eager to travel for intensive training during the initial 6-12 months