Senior COBOL Engineer & AI Innovator

NextLink is having an existing position as a Senior COBOL Engineer & AI Innovator

in Brussels area, Belgium.

General information

- Start date: ASAP

- Duration: 12 months renewable

- Workload: full time

- Work location: Brussels area, Belgium

Description

There are 3 major departments in the company, Life, Non-Life and Employee Benefits.

The candidate will join the Employee Benefits department and become part of a team of experts that support and expand our key application called VELO.

VeLo is a strategic application for managing contracts and coverage for group insurance and

healthcare.

The platform supports key business processes and plays a central role in AG’s insurance

application landscape. It continuously evolves to address new legislation, market developments and

changing customer needs. With its strong connections to other applications, VeLo offers varied projects and opportunities for collaboration across teams.

You will work alongside experienced colleagues to further develop a business-critical platform that directly impacts the services we provide.

The mission combines development, technical analysis, production support and maintenance with an active contribution to the future evolution of the application landscape.

VELO runs in a Micro Focus Enterprise Server environment and is developed mainly in COBOL, using

SQL Server and online and batch processing.

This is not a classic COBOL assignment

the candidate will act as a senior expert, mentor and bridge builder between proven legacy technology and innovation.

The candidate will investigate how AI can improve development, testing, documentation and application modernisation, in collaboration with architects, business and data experts.

As Senior COBOL Engineer & AI Innovator, the candidate will help ensure the reliability and continuity of

VELO while contributing to its future evolution.

The candidate will

• Design effective, maintainable and performant technical solutions in collaboration with functional

designers.

• Take ownership of important applications, batch processes, incidents and technical improvements.
• Ensure correct deployment across the different environments and validate solutions through

appropriate testing.

• Maintain the quality of the technical patrimony and anticipate the impact of new developments.
• Identify and resolve issues in technical implementations, including production and performance

problems.

• Coach less experienced colleagues and share knowledge within the team.
• Contribute to modernisation initiatives and the future direction of the application landscape.
• Explore and evaluate the use of Generative AI and Microsoft Copilot for analysis, documentation,

testing, code quality and developer productivity.

• Help translate promising AI concepts into pragmatic, secure and measurable improvements in a real business context.

Profile

• Language: English fluent + Dutch fluent

OR French fluent

• Bachelor degree or equivalent through relevant professional experience

• Minimum 10 years of experience

• Advanced COBOL application development

• Strong SQL/DB2 or SQL Server knowledge, including performance considerations

• Technical analysis, solution design, debugging and troubleshooting

• Testing, deployment and production support

• Understanding of application modernisation and integration with other technologies
• Strong interest in Generative AI, Microsoft Copilot & Intelligent Automation
• Ability to evaluate AI use cases for analysis, documentation, testing and code quality
• Working in a large IT organisation with transversal stakeholders
• Analysing complex business processes and translating them into reliable technical solutions
• Proven ownership of critical applications, incidents and production processes

• Functional analysis knowledge for IT projects

• Structured testing and test automation concepts

• Database and data model design

• Logical and methodical insight

• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills

• Able to work autonomously and as part of a team

• Structured, proactive, pragmatic and result-oriented

• Good communication skills and a coaching mindset

• Able to take ownership and follow up of running requests
• Able to plan work within agreed deadlines and priorities

• Able to deal with punctual stress situations

• Curious about new technologies and willing to challenge existing ways of working

Bonus

• Practical experience with Generative AI, Microsoft Copilot, GitHub Copilot or Intelligent Automation

• Experience with AI-assisted software development

• Insurance or Banking experience