Expert Mainframe & Enterprise Engineer – COBOL / ABAP

About the Opportunity

A leading AI research organization is evaluating how advanced AI systems perform in specialized engineering domains, and is seeking expert engineers with deep, hands-on production experience in COBOL and/or ABAP. You'll apply your enterprise expertise to assess complex, real-world technical scenarios — directly shaping how cutting-edge AI performs in mainframe and enterprise systems. Single-language specialists are strongly encouraged to apply.

What You'll Do

• Apply your language expertise to evaluate technical tasks against real-world professional standards
• Review intricate code-level situations and provide precise, structured written assessments
• Work inside containerized repositories (Docker), running and interpreting programmatic and CI-style checks to judge whether an engineering environment is sound
• Provide clear written rationales explaining your expert judgments
• Complete well-defined, time-bounded tasks with explicit evaluation criteria

Who We're Looking For

We value strong engineering fundamentals, fast ramp-up, and high ownership over single-language pedigree alone — but deep specialists are very welcome. The ideal candidate brings:

• 8+ years of professional development in one or both of:
• COBOL — IBM mainframe (z/OS) production development; JCL, CICS, VSAM, DB2; banking, insurance, or government systems
• ABAP — SAP development in R/3 or S/4HANA; Workbench tools (SE38, SE80, SE11); BAPIs, BADIs, Enhancement Spots; enterprise ERP environments
• Comfort working in Linux/Docker-based repo environments and reading automated/CI checks — or the ability to ramp on these fast
• Ability to articulate not just what code does but why it's correct or idiomatic, clearly in writing
• Welcomed: practitioners from banking, insurance, enterprise ERP, or government backgrounds; non-traditional digital footprints are fine — a GitHub profile is not required

Why This Work Matters

COBOL and ABAP run critical infrastructure in global banking, insurance, and enterprise ERP, yet remain among the least-represented domains in AI research. The expertise you bring is rare, and your assessments directly influence how AI systems learn to operate in it.

Engagement Details

• Compensation: $130–210/hour, based on depth and experience
• Expected commitment: 20–40 hrs/week
• Task flow is variable — work tends to arrive in waves, and there can be a lag between task batches. We're looking for people who stay flexible, including availability on weekends when needed, and who take ownership of keeping the project moving forward
• No proprietary tooling required — tasks are completable without employer-provided systems (no SAP license or mainframe access needed)