IWS Workload Scheduling Engineer

IWS Workload Scheduling Engineer (Contract)

Location: Remote / Hybrid (UK & Europe) Engagement: Contract (Inside/Outside IR35 depending on setup) Domain: IBM Z Workload Automation Skills Focus: IWS (TWS/OPC), z/OS batch scheduling, CA7 desirable

Role Summary

We are seeking an experienced IBM Workload Scheduler (IWS/TWS/OPC) contractor to support, enhance, and maintain enterprise‐scale batch scheduling across a complex z/OS environment.

The ideal contractor will have deep experience with IWS scheduling, jobstreams, dependencies, critical path management, and strong operational awareness of z/OS batch workflows.

Knowledge of CA7 is highly desirable — especially for organisations running mixed schedulers, migrating from CA7, or maintaining legacy job definitions.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and optimise IWS batch schedules, jobstreams, calendars, and dependencies.
• Maintain and troubleshoot the Current Plan (CP) and Long‐Term Plan (LTP).
• Analyse and resolve scheduling failures, late jobs, and critical path delays.
• Work closely with operations teams to ensure smooth batch execution across multi‐LPAR environments.
• Implement scheduling changes, new job definitions, and workload automation improvements.
• Support integration with subsystems such as CICS, DB2, IMS, MQ, JES2, and distributed workloads.
• Provide SME‐level guidance on scheduling standards, best practices, and optimisation opportunities.
• Assist with CA7 → IWS migration, coexistence, or cross‐scheduler mapping (if applicable).
• Produce clear documentation, runbooks, and knowledge transfer materials.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Strong hands‐on experience with IBM Workload Scheduler (IWS/TWS/OPC) on z/OS.
• Deep understanding of:
• Jobstreams, operations, and dependencies
• LTP/CP management
• Critical path analysis
• Batch window optimisation
• Solid z/OS operational knowledge (JES2, datasets, utilities, JCL).
• Experience supporting large, complex batch environments.
• Strong problem‐solving and incident‐resolution skills.

Desirable Skills

• CA7 experience (job definitions, triggers, queues, predecessors).
• Experience in mixed‐scheduler environments (IWS + CA7).
• Knowledge of enterprise workload automation across distributed platforms.
• Familiarity with REXX, automation frameworks, or mainframe monitoring tools.
• Understanding of RACF, SMP/E, and z/OS system programming fundamentals.