Modernization Architect

Slalom · Baltimore, MD · 1 mo ago

Art & Creative$186k–$257k/yrFull-time

About the role

As a Senior Principal at Slalom, you will help clients accelerate large scale technology transformation by turning decades-old mainframe code into agile, cloud-native systems. This role blends deep systems understanding of z/OS with modern cloud, DevOps, and AI-assisted engineering practices. You’ll work across multiple domains, from code analysis and business-logic extraction to automated refactoring and re-platforming helping enterprises transition mission-critical workloads to hyperscaler infrastructure.

Responsibilities

Understand, extract and document business logic from mainframe applications.
Modernize and refactor legacy code using automated transformation tools and AI coding agents.
Reimagine monolithic systems into cloud-native microservices and event-driven architectures.
Build, containerize, and deploy workloads to AWS (or other hyper scaler platforms).
Prototype modernization accelerators and proof-of-concepts using LLMs, code analysis tools, and custom pipelines.
Collaborate with architects, operators, and data engineers to ensure secure and efficient modernization patterns.

Requirements

Hands-on experience developing or operating on IBM mainframes (z/OS).
Proficiency in one or more mainframe languages: COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, JCL, etc.
Knowledge of z/OS fundamentals: CICS, DB2, VSAM, batch scheduling, system utilities.
Experience deploying workloads to a major cloud provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
Experience leveraging LLMs and coding agents in software development workflows.
Strong prototyping and POC development capability in dynamic environments.
Thrives in fast-moving, collaborative, and entrepreneurial teams.

Qualifications

Familiarity with Code-as-Data and structured intermediate representation (IR) concepts.
Experience parsing or analyzing source grammars (ANTLR4, Tree-Sitter, recursive descent, etc.).
Experience with modernization frameworks such as AWS Blu Age or AWS Mainframe Modernization (Transform for z/OS).
Experience with CI/CD pipelines, IaC (CloudFormation/Terraform), and container orchestration (Kubernetes/OpenShift).
Understanding of legacy data integration (DB2, VSAM, IMS) with modern cloud data stores.
Experience designing automated test harnesses for workload equivalence validation.
Awareness of enterprise security and IAM frameworks (RACF, IAM roles, encryption-at-rest/in-transit).
Experience fine-tuning or prompting code-centric LLMs (e.g., Amazon Q Developer, Bedrock, Claude) for code translation, documentation, or rule extraction.
Understanding of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) patterns, vector databases, and agentic orchestration for code analysis pipelines.
Consulting or systems-integration experience.

Skills

Experience with mainframe languages: COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, JCL, etc.
Experience with z/OS fundamentals: CICS, DB2, VSAM, batch scheduling, system utilities.
Experience with modern cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP).
Experience with LLMs and coding agents in software development workflows.
Prototyping and POC development capability in dynamic environments.
Collaboration and teamwork skills.

Benefits

Slalom offers a comprehensive benefits package including meaningful time off and paid holidays, parental leave, 401(k) with a match, a range of choices for highly subsidized health, dental, & vision coverage, adoption and fertility assistance, and short/long-term disability. We also offer yearly $350 reimbursement account for any well-being-related expenses, as well as discounted home, auto, and pet insurance. Slalom is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. For this role, we are hiring at the following levels and targeted base pay salary ranges:

The targeted base salary pay range for Senior Principal in San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Orange County, Washington DC, Houston, NJ, NY, Westchester, Boston is $186,000 to $257,000.
The target pase salary range for Senior Principal in East Bay, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley is $203,000-$281,000.
For all other slalom locations in the US, the target base salary range for Senior Principal is $171,000-$236,000.

Pay

Actual compensation will depend upon an individual's skills, experience, qualifications, location, and other relevant factors. The salary pay range is subject to change and may be modified at any time.