COBOL Architect / Lead — Dublin (Hybrid)

Location: Dublin, Ireland (Hybrid — 2–3 days per week in office)
Contract: Initial 3-month contract (with strong potential for extension)
Rate: €389 – €475 per day 

About the Role

We're looking for an experienced COBOL Architect / Lead to join a large-scale technology programme for a leading professional services organisation in Dublin. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can combine deep mainframe expertise with the ability to guide architecture decisions and mentor development teams on a business-critical legacy modernisation and support programme.

Key Responsibilities

  • Provide technical leadership and architectural direction across COBOL-based systems and related mainframe technologies
  • Lead the design, development, and review of COBOL applications, ensuring adherence to best practice and coding standards
  • Work closely with cross-functional teams (business analysts, QA, infrastructure) to define solutions for legacy modernisation, integration, and support initiatives
  • Conduct code reviews, provide technical mentorship to developers, and help uplift team capability
  • Assess and advise on technical debt, performance optimisation, and system stability
  • Liaise with stakeholders to translate business requirements into robust technical designs
  • Support planning and estimation for ongoing enhancement and maintenance work
Requirements

  • Proven experience as a COBOL Architect, Lead Developer, or senior COBOL Developer ready to step into a leadership capacity
  • Strong hands-on COBOL development experience within a mainframe environment (CICS, JCL, DB2, VSAM as applicable)
  • Experience leading or mentoring development teams, or acting as a technical point of escalation
  • Solid understanding of mainframe architecture, batch processing, and legacy system integration
  • Strong stakeholder communication skills, comfortable engaging both technical and non-technical audiences
  • Experience working within large, complex enterprise environments (financial services, insurance, or similar regulated sectors advantageous)
  • Eligible to work in Ireland; able to commit to hybrid working in Dublin (2–3 days per week on-site)



If you're a COBOL specialist looking to bring your technical expertise into a leadership role on a high-impact programme, we'd love to hear from you.