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Manager, Engineering, Managed Services - Mainframe

CDW · IL · Remote available · $126,500–$177,100 a year · Full time

Posted Sep 30, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about a mainframe or infrastructure team you managed. What targets did you own, and how did you track them?

What they are checking: Whether they have led a technical team against financial, operations and customer satisfaction goals together.

Tell me about a time you had to address a performance problem on your team.

What they are checking: Whether they handle performance management directly, with clear expectations and follow-through.

Tell me about a time you worked with IBM or another partner to resolve a customer issue.

What they are checking: Whether they build and use partner relationships when problems go beyond the team's control.

What would you do

Many mainframe engineers are close to retirement. How would you protect a managed service from losing critical knowledge?

What they are checking: Whether they plan for skill concentration risk, which is a real threat to mainframe services.

A customer's batch cycle failed overnight and their business is affected this morning. Walk me through your role.

What they are checking: How they lead during an incident, manage communication with the customer and let engineers work.

Walk me through how you would run a quarterly review with a mainframe customer who is considering moving off the platform.

What they are checking: Whether they can hold an honest strategic conversation and still protect the relationship.

How do you balance your engineers' time between customer tickets, project work and their own development?

What they are checking: Their resource allocation judgment, which affects both service delivery and team retention.

About the work

How familiar are you with z/OS, and how do you stay credible with senior mainframe engineers as their manager?

What they are checking: Whether they have enough mainframe knowledge to lead specialists who know far more detail than they do.

As product owner for a mainframe service, how would you decide what to standardize and what to customize per customer?

What they are checking: Whether they understand that standard operating procedures make managed services profitable and reliable.

How do you use SLA data and customer feedback together to improve the service?

What they are checking: Whether they combine objective and subjective input to drive continuous service improvement.

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The full job description

As published by CDW.

The Managed Services Engineering Manager demonstrates focus in leading a specific Managed Services Engineering Team to achieve financial, operations, customer satisfaction and coworker targets. The person in this role is responsible for delivery of one or more services and additionally serves as the product owner for those services. The role includes but is not limited to: Understand and align the engineering team to ensure overall Services strategy is implemented through Services teams, which includes building and maintaining key relationships with product development, professional services and sales. Executing on customer service level agreements by utilizing our operational framework and standard operating procedures to meet or exceed overall customer satisfaction. Continuous Service Improvement: includes both process and staff management, using both objective and subjective methods. Includes performance management. Allocating engineering resources to provide technical services to maintain, support, and optimize the specific technology areas assigned. Establish and cultivate a solid working relationship with customers through sales opportunities, quarterly reviews, and especially during support issues. Build and maintain strong relationships with key partner representatives (Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, VMWare, etc.). What You Will Do • Customer Satisfaction: Understand customer environments and business needs. • Meet periodically with customers through sales opportunities, quarterly reviews, and especially during support issues. • Track, monitor and report Customer Satisfaction Performance Measures, including Customer Satisfaction Surveys. • Leadership and Management: Managing workload; prioritizing and assigning resources. Includes review Service Desk queues and related reports. • Serve as a primary point of contact for the collaboration of strategic and tactical plans for the current and future development of the technologies assigned to their specific technology. • Time reporting and related analysis. • Hiring staff. • Building and motivating effective teams. • Delegating responsibilities to appropriate team members. • Performance management: Consistent feedback, both positive and negative Assessment, both subjective and objective coaching/mentoring Individual Development Planning (career path, improvement opportunities, training) • Maintaining the On-call schedule. • Work closely with peers to achieve company, department and personal goals. • Willing to take calculated risks to meet customer needs and department goals. • Process Management: Oversee the development, maintenance, and performance of the problem, change and work order processes. • Deliver Operational Framework and Standard Operating Procedures to staff and ensure adherence through Quality Assurance process. • Review Operational Framework and Standard Operating Procedures on an on-going basis to identify process and organizational structure gaps. • Continuous Service Improvement utilizing using key metrics. • Communication: Regular staff interaction, both written and face-to-face. • Customer interaction, both written and face-to-face. • Work collaboratively with other groups and managers to successfully manage customer expectations and environments. • Financial: Manage operational costs, plan, and budget. What We Expect of You • Bachelor’s Degree and 5 years of relevant experience OR 9 years of related consulting or IT services delivery experience • Previous consulting leadership experience required • Process management and improvement • Experience in ITIL • Experience managing mainframe environments, including IBM CICS, DB2, MQ, IDMS and related tools • Understanding of mainframe capacity planning, performance tuning, and workload automation • Ability to lead teams; gain consensus • Ability to communicate effectively and concise both orally and written using a variety of styles and techniques appropriate to the audience • Ability to balance multiple priorities simultaneously and adapt to the changing needs of the business while meeting deadlines • Proven ability to proactively collaborate and build relationships, take initiative, and creatively problem solve • Ability to identify and creatively resolve client, project and people issues • Proven negotiation skills • Knowledge of IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, HP, or Dell products and services • Experience working with vendors and business partners • Ability to lead and manage to ensure attainment of critical results • Ability to compute, analyze and interpret complex statistical data for reporting purposes and/or to develop forecasts • Ability to act as a trusted advisor in a strategic partnership • Able and willing to travel up to 25% or as needed to other CDW locations, meetings or client sites • Ability to multi-task, organize and prioritize. • Experience managing IBM z/OS, z/VM, ISV, RACF, is a plus. Pay range: $126,500 - $177,100 depending on experience and skill set Annual bonus target of 20% subject to terms and conditions of plan Benefits overview: https://cdw.benefit-info.com/ Salary ranges may be subject to geographic differentials CDW is committed to being an AI-fluent organization As a leader, you will champion and be accountable for our vision of becoming an AI-fluent organization. We expect leaders to model curiosity, encourage responsible AI adoption, and foster a culture of continuous learning. You don’t need deep technical expertise, but you should be comfortable exploring how AI can enhance strategy, decision-making, and team performance. Your role includes guiding others in building confidence and capability with AI tools and practices, while promoting openness to experimentation and shared learning. Additionally, CDW is committed to fostering an equitable, transparent, and respectful hiring process for all applicants. During our application process, our goal is to understand your experience, strengths, skills, and qualifications. As an AI forward company, we see AI not just as a tool, but as a catalyst for new ways of thinking, creating, and communicating. We encourage candidates to embrace an AI mindset, one that’s curious, adaptive, and ready to explore what’s possible. We welcome thoughtful use of AI to expand your perspective and elevate how you share your story, while ensuring your application remains rooted in your own background, judgment, and voice. About Us CDW is a Fortune 500 technology solutions provider that helps businesses, government, education, and healthcare organizations achieve what’s possible through technology. What makes CDW different isn’t just what we do—it’s how we do it. At CDW we act as one—building trust, speaking candidly, and working together to achieve more. We play to win—focusing on what matters most and delivering for our customers. And we think forward—staying curious, moving fast, and continuously learning. We believe meaningful work happens when people feel supported, heard, and empowered to contribute. That’s why we think of ourselves as coworkers, not just employees—working together to solve complex challenges and deliver real impact for our customers and communities. As a full‑stack, full‑lifecycle technology partner, CDW brings deep expertise, strong relationships, and broad industry knowledge to help turn ideas into outcomes. When you join CDW, you become part of a collaborative environment where your work matters, your growth is supported, and your contributions help shape what’s next. Together, we deliver the full promise of what technology can do. Together, we Make Amazing Happen. CDW is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other basis prohibited by state and local law.

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