Our team is seeking a Senior System Designer & COBOL/AS400 Lead to join a prominent organization in the financial services and insurance industry. In this role, you will be instrumental in reshaping, modernizing, and scaling mission-critical legacy applications on IBM i (AS400) platforms. Working side-by-side with solution architects, you will drive high-level technical design, evaluate functional changes, assess ecosystem impacts, and lead the technical execution for complex business systems.
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This position is tailored for a seasoned technical expert or lead developer looking to leverage deep platform knowledge to steer solution design, guide delivery teams, and influence key architecture decisions in a hybrid work environment.
Advantages
Long-Term Contract Stability: High-impact initiative scheduled through Q1 2027.
Flexible Work Model: Hybrid arrangement based out of Montreal or Quebec City (35 hours per week).
Technical Ownership: Key advisory role influencing core application evolution and enterprise integration strategy.
Collaborative Culture: High visibility across multidisciplinary delivery teams, software vendors, and enterprise architects.
Responsibilities
Formulate robust, scalable, and secure technical designs for core software components, databases, and system integrations aligned with enterprise standards.
Lead and mentor engineering pods throughout the delivery lifecycle to safeguard the integrity of software designs and oversee technical implementation.
Analyze system performance, data volume processing, and failure recovery mechanisms to maintain continuous operational resilience.
Build and configure complex solution components, development tools, and deployment environments within the IBM i framework.
Partner with solution architects to establish technical roadmaps, evaluate third-party software, and streamline inter-system integration patterns.
Author comprehensive technical specifications, solution blueprints, and C4/UML models using modern documentation standards (e.g., Markdown).
Act as a senior point of contact for estimation, effort planning, vendor coordination, and Tier-2 incident escalation when needed.
Qualifications
10+ years of overall IT experience, with at least 8 years dedicated to system design and development on IBM i / OS400 platforms.
Extensive hands-on background in COBOL (OPM/ILE), RPG (ILE/FREE), CLP, DB2 for IBM i, Embedded SQL, and native file definitions (PF/LF/DSPF/PRTF).
Deep understanding of IBM i administration concepts, including 5250 environments, job queues, libraries, objects, and Integrated File System (IFS).
Strong experience in modern application integration, legacy system evolution, and technical debt/obsolescence management.
Familiarity with modern delivery frameworks and practices (Agile, SAFe®, SDLC, TDD, BDD).
Proven track record in a Tech Lead or System Specialist capacity, demonstrating exceptional communication, analytical, and stakeholder management skills.
Functional bilingualism (French and English) to collaborate with local teams and external partners.
Experience in the insurance or financial services sector is considered a strong asset.
Our client operates in Canada. The company takes all reasonable steps to limit the number of positions in Quebec that require knowledge of a language other than French, and only requires it when necessary and its existing bilingual employees are unable to perform these duties. Based on an assessment conducted by our client, it has been determined that this position requires candidates to be fluent in English (both spoken and written). In particular, this position will require the employee to interact with centralized internal departments (e.g., Operations / HR / Finance / Legal / Contracts / Sales) that support the organization in Canada and that do not speak French.
Summary
Location: Quebec City or Montreal, QC (Hybrid - periodic in-person collaboration required in Montreal)
Duration: Full-time contract until March 31, 2027
Position Type: Contract (35 hours/week)
Randstad Canada is committed to fostering a workforce reflective of all peoples of Canada. As a result, we are committed to developing and implementing strategies to increase the equity, diversity and inclusion within the workplace by examining our internal policies, practices, and systems throughout the entire lifecycle of our workforce, including its recruitment, retention and advancement for all employees. In addition to our deep commitment to respecting human rights, we are dedicated to positive actions to affect change to ensure everyone has full participation in the workforce free from any barriers, systemic or otherwise, especially equity-seeking groups who are usually underrepresented in Canada's workforce, including those who identify as women or non-binary/gender non-conforming; Indigenous or Aboriginal Peoples; persons with disabilities (visible or invisible) and; members of visible minorities, racialized groups and the LGBTQ2+ community.
Randstad Canada is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible workplace for all its candidates and employees by supporting their accessibility and accommodation needs throughout the employment lifecycle. We ask that all job applications please identify any accommodation requirements by sending an email to accessibility@randstad.ca to ensure their ability to fully participate in the interview process.
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Our team is seeking a Senior System Designer & COBOL/AS400 Lead to join a prominent organization in the financial services and insurance industry. In this role, you will be instrumental in reshaping, modernizing, and scaling mission-critical legacy applications on IBM i (AS400) platforms. Working side-by-side with solution architects, you will drive high-level technical design, evaluate functional changes, assess ecosystem impacts, and lead the technical execution for complex business systems.
This position is tailored for a seasoned technical expert or lead developer looking to leverage deep platform knowledge to steer solution design, guide delivery teams, and influence key architecture decisions in a hybrid work environment.
Advantages
Long-Term Contract Stability: High-impact initiative scheduled through Q1 2027.
Flexible Work Model: Hybrid arrangement based out of Montreal or Quebec City (35 hours per week).
Technical Ownership: Key advisory role influencing core application evolution and enterprise integration strategy.
Collaborative Culture: High visibility across multidisciplinary delivery teams, software vendors, and enterprise architects.
...
Responsibilities
Formulate robust, scalable, and secure technical designs for core software components, databases, and system integrations aligned with enterprise standards.
Lead and mentor engineering pods throughout the delivery lifecycle to safeguard the integrity of software designs and oversee technical implementation.
Analyze system performance, data volume processing, and failure recovery mechanisms to maintain continuous operational resilience.
Build and configure complex solution components, development tools, and deployment environments within the IBM i framework.
Partner with solution architects to establish technical roadmaps, evaluate third-party software, and streamline inter-system integration patterns.
Author comprehensive technical specifications, solution blueprints, and C4/UML models using modern documentation standards (e.g., Markdown).
Act as a senior point of contact for estimation, effort planning, vendor coordination, and Tier-2 incident escalation when needed.
Qualifications
10+ years of overall IT experience, with at least 8 years dedicated to system design and development on IBM i / OS400 platforms.
Extensive hands-on background in COBOL (OPM/ILE), RPG (ILE/FREE), CLP, DB2 for IBM i, Embedded SQL, and native file definitions (PF/LF/DSPF/PRTF).
Deep understanding of IBM i administration concepts, including 5250 environments, job queues, libraries, objects, and Integrated File System (IFS).
Strong experience in modern application integration, legacy system evolution, and technical debt/obsolescence management.
Familiarity with modern delivery frameworks and practices (Agile, SAFe®, SDLC, TDD, BDD).
Proven track record in a Tech Lead or System Specialist capacity, demonstrating exceptional communication, analytical, and stakeholder management skills.
Functional bilingualism (French and English) to collaborate with local teams and external partners.
Experience in the insurance or financial services sector is considered a strong asset.
Our client operates in Canada. The company takes all reasonable steps to limit the number of positions in Quebec that require knowledge of a language other than French, and only requires it when necessary and its existing bilingual employees are unable to perform these duties. Based on an assessment conducted by our client, it has been determined that this position requires candidates to be fluent in English (both spoken and written). In particular, this position will require the employee to interact with centralized internal departments (e.g., Operations / HR / Finance / Legal / Contracts / Sales) that support the organization in Canada and that do not speak French.
Summary
Location: Quebec City or Montreal, QC (Hybrid - periodic in-person collaboration required in Montreal)
Duration: Full-time contract until March 31, 2027
Position Type: Contract (35 hours/week)
Randstad Canada is committed to fostering a workforce reflective of all peoples of Canada. As a result, we are committed to developing and implementing strategies to increase the equity, diversity and inclusion within the workplace by examining our internal policies, practices, and systems throughout the entire lifecycle of our workforce, including its recruitment, retention and advancement for all employees. In addition to our deep commitment to respecting human rights, we are dedicated to positive actions to affect change to ensure everyone has full participation in the workforce free from any barriers, systemic or otherwise, especially equity-seeking groups who are usually underrepresented in Canada's workforce, including those who identify as women or non-binary/gender non-conforming; Indigenous or Aboriginal Peoples; persons with disabilities (visible or invisible) and; members of visible minorities, racialized groups and the LGBTQ2+ community.
Randstad Canada is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible workplace for all its candidates and employees by supporting their accessibility and accommodation needs throughout the employment lifecycle. We ask that all job applications please identify any accommodation requirements by sending an email to accessibility@randstad.ca to ensure their ability to fully participate in the interview process.
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