Introduction

IBM System Z (IBM Z) mainframes are engineered for the highest levels of reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS). Hardware validation ensures every subsystem of the platform meets IBM's strict quality standards before it is shipped to customers.

Looking for a Hardware Engineer to work on our EST squad executing and automating test scenarios. This job role provides a wide range of technical experiences, from hardware handling to running programs on a variety of operating systems. It also offers a lot of troubleshooting, investigation and problem resolution. This encompasses several sub-roles including: machine configuration, operation, maintenance, error handling and investigation, troubleshooting bugs, defect reporting, operating system knowledge, and workload execution. In addition, there is a strong desire to transform traditional test methods to a more automated approach which will require a significant amount of programming & scripting. We need someone with the drive to find machine bugs and work with our development team until the issue has been resolved. A team player is a must! In order to ensure success, the candidate will need a willingness to continuously seek education to build their skills. This, along with a strong desire to replace traditional manually initiated workload/testing with automated execution techniques will be a big plus.

Your role and responsibilities

This role is critical in validating enterprise‑class workloads on System Z platforms that support mission‑critical business operations worldwide. The scope includes testing and certification of complex System Z configurations, with emphasis on:

.Design, develop, and execute I/O recovery test plans for enterprise hardware platforms.

.Identifying existing manual test scenarios and workloads and design programmatic automation to replace them.

.Validate system resiliency through error injection, fault recovery, and failover testing scenarios.

.Perform high-availability and redundancy validation, including path failover and recovery testing.

.Investigate and debug I/O recovery failures through log analysis, diagnostics, and root-cause determination.

.Participate in test strategy, test planning, and customer-focused validation to ensure robust and reliable I/O recovery capabilities.

.Working with firmware development to understand the technical details of new firmware features in order to design appropriate test scenarios and workloads to validate them

.Growing knowledge of physical server design and logical constructs behind its operation

.Hardware handling, maintenance, changes and manipulation

.Working with multiple Z mainframe operating systems to execute workloads that are used to verify the latest hardware and firmware deliveries

.Large amount of troubleshooting, investigation and problem resolution.

Required education
Bachelor's Degree

Preferred education
Master's Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

Required Technical and Professional Expertise with relevant experience of 4 to 6 years.

1. Hardware system testing and validation.

2. I/O subsystem, networking, and storage technologies.

3. Error injection and fault tolerance testing.

4. Performance and stress testing methodologies.

5. Test automation using Python, Shell scripting, or similar technologies.

6. Debugging, log analysis, and root cause analysis.

7. Knowledge of IBM Z, Linux, virtualization, or enterprise server environments is highly desirable.

8. Strong understanding of computer architecture (CPU, memory hierarchy, buses, I/O subsystems).

9. Familiarity with PCIe, USB, Ethernet, SAS/SATA, NVMe, DDR, or similar protocols.

10.Good knowledge of firmware/BIOS, drivers, and low-level debugging.

11.Gather and analyze hardware requirements to create detailed test plans, test matrices, and test strategies.

12.Identify coverage gaps and ensure test completeness across hardware components.

13.Proficiency inscripting (Python/Shell/Bash) for automation, tooling, and operational efficiency.

14.Demonstrated experience inautomation of deployments, monitoring, and operational workflowsusing scripting or orchestration tools.

15.Strong team player with good communication and interpersonal skills.

16.Proven ability to work effectively in a global team environment.

Preferred technical and professional experience

2+ of experience working with Z mainframe systems in some capacity Experience with one or more mainframe operating systems. Experience with practical applications of the mainframe Experience writing and executing test plans with the ability to ensure proper coverage based on customer requirements and workloads, and perform regression testing Hardware troubleshooting skills Knowledge of Agile practices Ability to handle testing and debugging tasks independently.

Years of Experience:
4-6