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)