Senior Software Engineer
Gerber Life Insurance is looking for an experienced Mainframe/COBOL Software Engineer to help modernize the technology that powers our end-to-end life insurance policy administration environment. This position requires onsite work at our Fremont, MI office.
About the role
This is a hands-on individual contributor role for an experienced engineer who understands both legacy mainframe technology and the future of modern policy administration. You'll collaborate with a team of 7–10 engineers using rapid agile development to enhance and modernize applications supporting 3.8 million life insurance policies and approximately 1 million service calls annually. You'll work directly in the technology—developing, modernizing, and integrating the systems responsible for product configuration, billing, collections, policy servicing, claims, and other critical insurance functions.
Responsibilities
- Perform hands-on COBOL application development supporting end-to-end life insurance policy administration
- Collaborate with engineers across a rapid agile software development environment
- Modernize legacy mainframe applications and help evolve batch processing toward real-time capabilities
- Integrate policy administration applications with new business, self-service, payments, workflow, document generation, general ledger, reinsurance, and other systems
- Help advance architecture through technologies including DB2, z/OS Connect, IBM MQ, and modern web technologies
- Own assigned development and production support work from start to finish
- Manage product and sprint backlogs as needed to deliver software changes
- Estimate new development work and help prioritize technology demand
- Lead by example and contribute to an agile, innovative, and solutions-focused engineering culture
- Maintain strong data security, technical, and regulatory standards
Technology Environment
- Mainframe/Legacy: COBOL, CICS, APS, IMS, VSAM, JCL
- Modernization: Micro Focus COBOL, Web UI, DB2, z/OS Connect, IBM MQ
- Development: JavaScript/TypeScript, Angular, AJAX, HTML, CSS, Java, Spring, .NET, C#/C++
- DevOps: Docker, Git, Maven, Jenkins, JIRA
- Cloud: Azure exposure preferred
Requirements
- Significant software engineering and change-management experience
- Strong COBOL and mainframe policy administration expertise
- Experience with end-to-end life insurance technology and policy administration
- Experience leading or providing technical direction to COBOL software engineering teams
- Understanding of both waterfall and Agile/Scrum delivery
- Ability to simplify complex, large-scale system changes and consider total cost of ownership
- Strong agile mindset with a passion for modernization, innovation, and continuous integration
- Ability to work autonomously while collaborating effectively across technical and business teams
- Master's degree in Computer Science, or an acceptable combination of education, technical training, certifications, and extensive relevant experience
Benefits
- Paid time off increasing with tenure
- Tuition reimbursement and individualized career development plans
- Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance
- 401(k) savings plan with pension options
- Parental leave and maternity leave
Pay
$112,800-$140,000 annually
About Us
Gerber Life Insurance Company, a member company of Western & Southern Financial Group, is committed to helping families protect what matters most. We offer associates the opportunity to contribute to meaningful work while building rewarding careers. Western & Southern is a Fortune 500® company recognized as one of America’s Best Midsize Employers by Forbes. Our culture is driven by integrity, top-notch performance, teamwork, and collaboration, empowering associates to chase their career dreams while being supported every step of the way.