Senior Software Engineer - Akana Sola

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Position Summary

Perforce is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join the Akana Sola team. Sola is Akana's mainframe API enablement product, exposing COBOL, CICS, and IMS/DB2 assets as REST/SOAP APIs. This is a genuine growth opportunity: mainframe skills are increasingly rare and highly valued, and this role is built for an engineer with a strong Java/API foundation who wants to develop a differentiated, in-demand specialization in mainframe technologies.

You'll work directly with, and be mentored by, senior engineers on a small, highly specialized team maintaining a product that supports mission-critical customer applications. We work in an agile product development process with core values of results, teamwork, ownership, quality of work, problem solving, and service to customers.

Responsibilities

Mainframe & Legacy Systems – Growth Track (Mentorship & Training Provided)

These skills will be developed on the job under mentorship from our senior mainframe engineers. Any prior exposure is a strong plus, but eagerness to learn matters more than existing depth.

COBOL - the primary language, by volume, behind the legacy Sola runtime that all customers rely on.

CICS application development, as Sola runs under CICS and uses several of its system functions.

DB2 programming (embedded SQL, performance-aware query design).

JCL (Job Control Language) for mainframe batch processing.

Batch COBOL, since Sola supports exposing batch programs as APIs and calling APIs from batch programs.

IBM MQ Series as a supported transport layer within Sola.

Mainframe Assembler, used for performance-critical functions such as parsing, the DOM API, and data conversions, and Natural, used for generating Natural Language artifacts — deeper, longer-term growth areas.

Requirement

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 6+ years of hands-on software development experience.
• Strong foundation in Java and API technologies.
• Genuine interest in specializing in mainframe/legacy systems technology as a long-term career direction.

Core Technical Skills – Java, APIs & Modern Stack

• Working knowledge of Java, used for the Sola IDE and one of the Sola runtime implementations.
• Experience with RESTful and SOAP web services, including how they're designed, secured, and exposed from backend systems.
• Familiarity or hands-on experience with API management gateways (e.g., Akana, Apigee, MuleSoft, Kong, or similar) — Sola's core purpose is exposing mainframe assets as governed, gateway-managed APIs.
• Working knowledge of JavaScript, used extensively within the Sola IDE.
• Experience with SQL/NoSQL databases, including DB2, Oracle, MS SQL, and/or MySQL.
• Working knowledge of CI/CD tools and pipelines.

Development Practices

Experience working with Git and version control systems.

Familiarity with Agile methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban.

Ability to independently learn, manage, and enhance existing codebases, including long-lived legacy systems.

Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting abilities, with the composure to work under pressure — Sola customers run it in mission-critical applications, so issues often need time-critical resolution.

Communication & Collaboration

Excellent verbal communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to support product demos and pre-sales conversations as needed.

Self-driven with a strong sense of ownership.

Willingness to participate in on-call/off-hours rotation to support customers' mission-critical use of Sola.

Nice to Have

UI development skills: JavaScript frameworks, Bootstrap, jQuery, etc.

Experience with Python scripting or development.

Familiarity with Docker and Kubernetes.

Exposure to Linux on mainframe (zLinux), as some customers may elect to run the Sola Java runtime there.

All employees are expected to demonstrate AI fluency appropriate to their role and level, including responsible use of AI tools, sound judgment, and adherence to company AI governance and security policy standards.

Come work with us! Our team members are valued for their contributions, introduced to new opportunities, and rewarded well. Perforce combines the experience and rewards of a start-up with the security of an established and privately held profitable company.

If you are passionate about the technology that impacts our day-to-day lives and want to work with talented and dedicated people across the globe, apply today!

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