Sr Software Engineer iSeries

CREATIVITY IS OUR SUPERPOWER. It’s our heritage and it’s also our future. Because we don’t just make toys. We create innovative products and experiences that inspire fans, entertain audiences and develop children through play. Mattel is at its best when every member of our team feels respected, included, and heard—when everyone can show up as themselves and do their best work every day. We value and share an infinite range of ideas and voices that evolve and broaden our perspectives with a reach that extends into all our brands, partners, and suppliers.

Job Objective

The iSeries Production Support Engineer is responsible for the stability, availability, and performance of mission-critical applications at the Mattel Asia Manufacturing facility (China and Southeast Asia) and of in-house-developed applications on the IBM i (iSeries/AS/400) platform. This role provides L2/L3 support, including incident response, batch/job scheduling via CA Scheduler, HA/DR support, performance troubleshooting, and release/change activities. You’ll partner closely with application developers (RPG/CL), infrastructure administrators, business analysts, and business stakeholders to minimize downtime, protect data integrity, and ensure timely batch completion.

Key Responsibilities

Production Support / Incident Management

• Provide L2/L3 production support for IBM iSeries applications built in RPG (RPGLE/ILE), CL/CLLE and SQL on Db2 for iSeries
• Monitor application health, system logs, and performance metrics, and identify potential issues.
• Analyze, troubleshoot and resolve production incidents within defined SLA timelines.
• Perform root cause analysis (RCA) and implement permanent fixes or preventive measures.
• Handle on-call support and incident escalations as required.

Application and System Maintenance

• Support application deployments, hotfixes, and patches in production environments.
• Perform configuration changes and environment validation across the Development, UAT, and Production environments.
• Ensure application uptime, reliability, and data integrity.
• Coordinate with infrastructure teams on server, database, and network-related activities

Monitor & Performance

• Monitor application performance  

• Identify performance bottlenecks and work with development teams to optimize applications.
• Track recurring incidents and recommend improvements.

Collaboration & Communication

• Work closely with application development teams to understand application design and business expectations

• Communicate effectively with business users and stakeholders during incidents and outages (P1 and P2)
• Participate in release planning, post-release validation, and post-incident reviews.

Document & Compliance

• Maintain production supports documentation, runbooks, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Document known issues, workarounds, and fixes.
• Ensure compliance with organizational change management and security standards.

Required Skills & Qualifications

Technical Skills

• Strong hands‑on experience with IBM i (iSeries/AS/400) operations
• Proficiency in RPG (RPGLE/ILE) and CL/CLLE; solid knowledge of SQL/Db2 for i (querying, tuning, access paths).
• Practical experience administering CA Job Scheduler on IBM i (job definitions, calendars, dependencies, notifications).
• Familiarity with HA/DR technologies on IBM i (e.g., MIMIX, PowerHA, or similar): monitoring replication, audits, and role swaps.
• Understanding of ITIL processes (Incident, Problem, Change, Knowledge).

Soft Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work under pressure in high-availability production environments (supporting manufacturing plants expected shorter resolution time)
• Strong communication and presentation skills with end users and business stakeholders
• Strong attention to detail and documentation discipline.

Education & Experience

• Degree in computer science, Information Technology or related field (or equivalent experience)
• Min 5 years of experience in iSeries / application development or support area
• Understanding of manufacturing back office, shop floor operation and trading companies’ operation is value added
• Eager to work on-call or non regular hours (Asia time zone) whenever necessary
• Eager to travel for intensive training during the initial 6-12 months