Senior Middleware Engineer / Lead Middleware Administrator - Part-Time

ROLE OVERVIEW

We are seeking a highly experienced Middleware Engineer / Lead Middleware Administrator to join our Infrastructure & Middleware Platform team. This is a senior individual contributor or lead role responsible for architecting, managing, and evolving our enterprise middleware landscape — spanning IBM WebSphere Application Server, IBM WebSphere Liberty, IBM HTTP Server, IBM MQ, WebSphere Portal, Apache Tomcat, Oracle WebLogic, and JBoss/WildFly. The successful candidate will bring a minimum of 10 years of hands-on experience and will play a pivotal role in ensuring platform stability, security, and performance across MCC's enterprise environment.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Middleware Platform Management

•      Design, implement, configure, and maintain enterprise middleware platforms including IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS ND), IBM WebSphere Liberty, IBM HTTP Server (IHS), IBM MQ, WebSphere Portal, Apache Tomcat, Oracle WebLogic, and JBoss/WildFly across development, staging, and production environments.

Application Deployment

•      Deploy, configure, and manage enterprise Java applications (EAR/WAR/JAR), perform application lifecycle management, rolling deployments, rollbacks, and post-deployment validation.

WebSphere Administration

•      Configure and administer WebSphere ND environments including Deployment Manager (DMGR), Node Agents, Clusters, JVMs, JDBC Providers, Data Sources, JMS resources, Shared Libraries, Virtual Hosts, and Work Managers.

Middleware Security

•      Configure SSL/TLS certificates, LDAP integration, LTPA, SSO, OIDC, OAuth 2.0, SAML, and API Gateway integration, and secure communication between enterprise applications.

Performance & Availability

•      Monitor JVM health, thread pools, connection pools, heap usage, garbage collection, and maintain High Availability (HA) environments with minimal service disruption.

IBM MQ Administration

•      Install, configure, administer, and troubleshoot IBM MQ Queue Managers, Queues, Channels, JMS resources, SSL-enabled MQ channels, and MQ client connectivity.

Incident & Problem Management

•      Troubleshoot production incidents including JVM crashes, hung threads, connection leaks, OutOfMemory errors, CORBA/IIOP issues, scheduler failures, and application performance bottlenecks. Perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and coordinate with vendors for issue resolution.

Automation & Scripting

•      Develop and maintain Shell (Bash) and wsadmin (Jython) scripts to automate middleware deployments, health checks, monitoring, and routine administration tasks.

Monitoring & Health Checks

•      Monitor middleware infrastructure using Dynatrace, PMI, GC logs, thread dumps, heap dumps, FFDC logs, and Linux system monitoring tools to ensure optimal system performance.

Change & Release Management

•      Prepare implementation plans, rollback procedures, risk assessments, CAB documentation, and execute production changes with minimal business impact.

Patch & Upgrade Management

•      Plan and implement WebSphere Fix Packs, Interim Fixes (IFixes), Java SDK upgrades, IBM Installation Manager updates, IBM MQ maintenance, and middleware security patching.

Stakeholder Collaboration

•      Work closely with application teams, infrastructure teams, database administrators, network teams, security teams, vendors, and business stakeholders to support enterprise middleware services.

Documentation & Continuous Improvement

•      Prepare Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), operational runbooks, architecture documentation, and continuously improve middleware reliability, security and operational efficiency.

EXPERIENCE & SKILLS REQUIRED

Core Experience

•      Minimum 10 years of experience in Middleware Administration with strong expertise in IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS ND) within enterprise environments.

Platform Expertise

•      Hands-on experience with IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS ND), IBM WebSphere Liberty, IBM HTTP Server (IHS), IBM MQ, WebSphere Portal, Apache Tomcat, Oracle WebLogic, and JBoss/WildFly.

Middleware Technologies

•      Strong knowledge of Deployment Manager (DMGR), Node Agents, Clustering, JVM tuning, JDBC Providers, Data Sources, JMS, JNDI, Shared Libraries, Virtual Hosts, and Enterprise Java applications.

Security & Authentication

•      Experience configuring SSL/TLS, LDAP, LTPA, Single Sign-On (SSO), OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect (OIDC), SAML, and API Gateway integration.

Linux Administration

•      Strong experience managing middleware platforms on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and familiarity with IBM AIX and Windows Server environments.

Automation

•      Experience using Shell Scripting (Bash), wsadmin (Jython), Python, and Linux scripting to automate middleware administration tasks.

Performance Tuning

•      Hands-on experience analysing JVM performance, Garbage Collection (GC), Thread Dumps, Heap Dumps, FFDC logs, connection leaks, and performance bottlenecks.

Monitoring Tools

•      Experience using Dynatrace, IBM Health Center, Linux monitoring tools, and WebSphere Performance Monitoring Infrastructure (PMI).

Soft Skills

•      Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills, excellent communication abilities, stakeholder management experience, and the ability to prepare technical documentation, implementation plans, and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) reports.

QUALIFICATIONS

•      Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related discipline.
•      IBM Certified Systems Expert (WebSphere Application Server) — preferred.
•      IBM Certified Administrator for WebSphere MQ — preferred.
•      RHCE / RHCSA or equivalent Linux certification — advantageous.
•      ITIL Foundation certification — advantageous.