Sr. Middleware Project Engineer

Position Overview
Insight Global is looking for a Sr. Middleware Project Engineer to remotely join one of their Life Insurance clients based in Metro Detroit. This person will be a lead engineer on various middleware projects in an enterprise environment. This senior role is focused on helping lead & deliver various middleware projects from existing infrastructure to a future transformative environment. You will work across Linux and Windows servers to ensure reliability and performance of J2EE application servers (especially IBM WebSphere), Enterprise Content Management (IBM FileNet / Content Navigator), integration platforms (e.g., IBM Cast Iron), and related middleware infrastructure. The ideal candidate has deep technical expertise in core middleware technologies and is comfortable taking full ownership of complex incidents, including after-hours on-call support, to maintain 24/7 system availability.

What to Expect:
This is a fast-paced, operational role ensuring the stability of core business systems. You’ll join a collaborative Middleware/Integration team that emphasizes ownership, responsiveness, and attention to detail. Flexible hours and reliability are important – production emergencies can occur at any time, and you should be prepared to occasionally work evenings, nights, or weekends (with compensating time off for after-hours work). No formal people management is involved, but strong communication and coordination skills are essential, as you’ll frequently engage with multiple technical teams and vendors to keep systems running smoothly. If you have a passion for enterprise middleware, solving tough problems under pressure, and automating for stability, this role offers a chance to have a significant impact on critical systems from day one. We welcome candidates who are eager to apply their expertise and hit the ground running.


Day-to-Day Responsibilities
- Middleware Administration: Install, configure, and manage enterprise middleware platforms – including IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS), IBM FileNet P8/Content Navigator, IBM WebSphere Cast Iron (integration appliance), and related tools.
- Perform upgrades, patching, and performance tuning to keep these systems secure and high-performing across development, test, and production.
- Production Support & On-Call Incident Response: Own and resolve critical production issues (Sev-1/Sev-2 incidents) in real time, ensuring rapid recovery of applications and services.
- Participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation, including nights/weekends, with compensating time off for approved after-hours work. Lead troubleshooting across application, middleware, OS, and network layers to identify root causes and restore service.
- Coordinate war-room calls and engage other teams/vendors as needed during incidents.
- Deployments & Change Management: Support application deployments and middleware releases by coordinating with development/DevOps teams.
- Follow change control (CAB) processes to schedule production changes, patching windows, certificate renewals, and maintenance tasks in a controlled manner.
- Plan and execute maintenance windows (e.g., security patches, upgrades, restarts) to minimize downtime and ensure proper post-change validation. Assist in disaster recovery drills and ensure high availability (clustering, load balancing, failover) for critical systems.
- Automation & Environment Improvements: Automate repetitive tasks (deployment scripts, server configuration, monitoring setup) using tools like Jenkins pipelines, Ansible, shell/PowerShell scripts, or similar.
- Identify opportunities to improve reliability, deployment speed, and reduce manual effort.
- Proactively monitor systems (logs, performance metrics, synthetic transactions) and fine-tune configurations to prevent incidents and optimize throughput.
- Collaboration & Support: Work closely with application development teams on middleware integration points (JMS, web services, APIs).
- Partner with infrastructure, network, storage, and security teams on environment changes, capacity planning, and vulnerability remediation (SSL/TLS certificates, scanning/patching).
- Coordinate with vendors for advanced troubleshooting and support tickets on third-party middleware products when required.
- Documentation & Best Practices: Maintain up-to-date technical documentation (deployment guides, runbooks, environment diagrams, DR procedures) for all managed systems.
Adhere to and help define best practices and standards for deployment, integration, and operations. Contribute to knowledge sharing and continuous improvement within the team.

Exact compensation may vary based on several factors, including skills, experience, and education. Benefit packages while on contract for this role will start on the 31st day of employment and include medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as HSA, FSA, and DCFSA account options, and 401k retirement account access with employer matching. Employees in this role are also entitled to paid sick leave and/or other paid time off as provided by applicable law.

We are a company committed to creating diverse and inclusive environments where people can bring their full, authentic selves to work every day. We are an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer that believes everyone matters. Qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment regardless of their race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, genetic factors, age, disability, protected veteran status, military or uniformed service member status, or any other status or characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please send a request to HR@insightglobal.com.To learn more about how we collect, keep, and process your private information, please review Insight Global's Workforce Privacy Policy: https://insightglobal.com/workforce-privacy-policy/.

- 5+ years of experience in enterprise middleware/infrastructure engineering, with hands-on production support (preferably in insurance/financial services or similar regulated industries).
- Experience leading/delivering middleware/devops projects
- Executive presence, strong collaboration & delivery skills, with an ability to drive solutions & conversations, strategic planning, etc.
- Expertise in IBM WebSphere Application Server (strong experience deploying, configuring, administering, and tuning WebSphere in a production environment; familiarity with ND clusters and IBM HTTP Server a plus).
- Strong experience with Enterprise Content Management systems, especially IBM FileNet P8 / Content Platform Engine and Content Navigator, including installing, supporting, and integrating large-scale content/document management platforms (exposure to IBM WebSphere Cast Iron or similar integration tools preferred).
- Hands-on automation and CI/CD: Experience with deployment automation and build tools such as Jenkins pipelines, Ansible, GitLab, Maven/Artifactory, etc.
- On-Call & Incident Management: Demonstrated track record in 24/7 on-call support, including independently owning high-severity (Sev-1/Sev-2) incidents, driving resolution, and performing detailed root cause analysis (RCA).
- Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills: Ability to think critically and “connect the dots” across legacy and modern systems, debugging complex issues across application, middleware, OS, network, database, and integration layers.
- Experience analyzing full stack traces, logs, and monitoring data to identify root causes and implement fixes in real time under pressure.
- Ability to clearly document findings, root causes, and recommended solutions in RCA reports and communicate effectively during and after incidents.
Familiarity with ITIL-based change and incident management processes (e.g., change tickets, CAB reviews, post-incident reviews).

- Additional Middleware/Integration Tools: Experience with other middleware or integration platforms (e.g., WSO2 Identity Server, MuleSoft, IBM MQ/Message Broker, Kofax, etc.) or cloud-based integration services.
- Infrastructure & Security: Familiarity with VMware virtualization, basic networking/DNS, load balancers (F5, Citrix ADC), and web security (SSL certificates, web app firewalls).
- Software Development Lifecycle: Understanding of Agile/Scrum methodologies and ability to work effectively with developers and QA in a CI/CD environment.
- Coding/scripting abilities (Java, Python, etc.) for integration tasks and automation is a plus.
- Comfortable using logs, monitoring, and observability tools to proactively identify issues, improve system stability, and prevent repeat incidents.
Proficiency with Linux server environments (Red Hat/Ubuntu or similar) – including shell scripting, system administration, and troubleshooting; comfortable with Windows Server for middleware components as needed.

Benefit packages for this role will start on the 1st day of employment and include medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as HSA, FSA, and DCFSA account options, and 401k retirement account access with employer matching. Employees in this role are also entitled to paid sick leave and/or other paid time off as provided by applicable law.