DataStage Engineer (W2 Contract Only)

Role: DataStage Engineer III Location: Cincinnati Duration: 6-Month Contract Pay Rate: $65/hr on W2 Work Schedule: Monday–Friday, 1:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET Additional Requirement: Weekend flexibility required, including planned support coverage for one weekend in June, July, and September (Labor Day weekend). Position Summary We are seeking an experienced DataStage Engineer III to support large-scale data migration and conversion initiatives in a high-volume enterprise environment. This role is responsible for advanced DataStage platform engineering, production support, incident response, and performance optimization during critical migration events, mock conversions, and post go-live stabilization activities. The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in IBM DataStage, strong troubleshooting capabilities, and hands-on experience supporting enterprise ETL/data integration platforms under demanding operational timelines. Key Responsibilities • Provide advanced troubleshooting and rapid incident response for DataStage job failures, abends, and performance issues. • Monitor, tune, and optimize the DataStage platform to support increased workloads during testing and conversion events. • Deliver hands-on platform support during mock conversion cycles, conversion weekends, and stabilization periods. • Proactively identify and resolve ETL bottlenecks, job failures, and scalability concerns impacting critical migration processing. • Optimize high-volume DataStage workloads to ensure successful throughput and processing timelines during cutover activities. • Maintain platform resilience and ensure uninterrupted data pipeline operations supporting downstream systems and integrations. • Perform root cause analysis and implement corrective actions to minimize operational disruptions and conversion delays. • Support business continuity initiatives related to customer account setup, transaction migration, regulatory reporting, and product readiness. • Collaborate with infrastructure, application, database, and migration teams to ensure seamless execution of conversion activities. • Provide Level 3/4 engineering support for complex platform and ETL-related incidents. Required Qualifications • 7+ years of hands-on experience with IBM DataStage development and platform engineering. • Strong expertise in enterprise data migration and ETL processing. • Advanced experience troubleshooting DataStage job failures, performance issues, and platform incidents. • Experience tuning and optimizing DataStage jobs for high-volume batch processing environments. • Strong understanding of ETL architecture, data integration patterns, and conversion methodologies. • Experience supporting production environments during critical release or cutover events. • Ability to perform root cause analysis and implement long-term remediation strategies. • Strong Unix/Linux scripting and troubleshooting skills. • Experience with scheduling and monitoring tools commonly used with DataStage environments. • Excellent communication and collaboration skills in fast-paced enterprise environments. Preferred Qualifications • Experience supporting banking or financial services data migration programs. • Exposure to large-scale conversion or merger initiatives. • Familiarity with Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, or other enterprise databases. • Experience with performance monitoring and enterprise platform support tools.