COBOL Experts in Hamburg
in minutes with vetted, available specialists from over 15,000 CVs and the power of AI.Hire experts who keep COBOL systems stable, modernize batch jobs, and support CICS, JCL, and VSAM-based applications. Get fast, precise matching with vetted, available freelancers who fit your scope.
Meet FRATCH Experts in Hamburg, who have recently used COBOL
Guido Bäcker
Last position:
Independent Management Consultant and Interim Manager at BCTC Unternehmensberatung Guido Bäcker
Consulting, training, and coaching in the financial sector on strategy, organization, and IT topics
MorgenFund: Advising the operator of a fund platform on software selection for a sub-ledger "Cash Accounts" based on Virtual IBANs (VIBAN)
Structuring requirements, market screening, creating RfIs, communicating with vendors, and conducting the selection process
UniCredit/HypoVereinsbank: Workstream lead "Booking and Customer Reporting" in the payment transformation project "PULS"
Business analysis, creating business requirements and aligning solution items as part of the functional specification with the bank's IT service providers
Business analysis of SEPA CT and SWIFT MX (.camt, .pain, and .pacs formats), change management, team lead for a virtual team of fifteen line experts, and stakeholder management
equensWorldline Germany: Program management for three projects of the SWIFT service bureau (CBPR+, ESMIG, and Euro1Step1 migration) as part of the SWIFT MX migration
Managing individual project managers regarding overarching goals and requirements; reporting to internal and external committees and stakeholders; coordinating with dependent projects and programs
Project management/PMO: interim project management, stand-in for project managers, resource planning, budget and cost management, general PMO tasks
Michael MĂĽller
Last position:
IT PROJECT MANAGER (MS Exchange) at Statutory Health Insurance on behalf of Randstad Digital Germany (formerly AUSY Technologies Germany)
Migration from Exchange 2016 to Exchange 2019 and Exchange Online, as well as the introduction of a backup solution and an archiving solution. The goal was a secure, compliant, and high-performance modernization of the email and archiving infrastructure.
Responsibilities as IT PROJECT MANAGER: Overall project management and operational control / Ensuring adherence to costs and resources / Ensuring achievement of project objectives / Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and compliance guidelines, including ISMS, ITIL, and data protection regulations / Preparing and delivering management reports for the project sponsors and project committee / Coordinating interdisciplinary teams from Exchange, network, data protection, and IT security / Planning and executing the system migration from Exchange 2016 to Exchange 2019 / Planning and executing the system migration from Exchange 2019 to Exchange Online / Planning and implementing a backup solution for Exchange Online / Coordinating an EU-wide tender for an archiving solution including market analysis with potential vendors / Planning and implementing an archiving solution for Exchange Online / Coordinating and preparing the necessary BAS notifications in the project context / Coordinating and aligning with stakeholders (e.g. business units, external service providers, and suppliers) for requirements definition and implementation
Technical environment: MS Exchange 2016, MS Exchange 2019, MS Exchange Online, MS Office, MS Planner, MS PowerPoint, MS Project, MS Teams
Alex Odesser
Last position:
Contractor at Telefonica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG
- Data-analysis, Preparation, gathering and coordination of business requirements for retrieval of monthly- and long term (CLV – relevant) cost- and revenue-components per contract for a customer–base–grouping project (HUB–Project) for B2C-Postpaid-Controlling
- Concept and Implementation of cost- and revenue-KPIs calculation and corresponding CLV–reports (Oracle, Perl, SVN, MS SQL Server, MS Power BI, Serviceware Performance Analytics)
- Operational support of the HUB-Project – various ad-hoc reports, deployments, job-scheduling etc. (Oracle, SVN, BICSuite–Scheduler, DWSODA etc.)
- Analysis, implementation, retrieval and reporting of various physical and financial KPIs for B2P-Prepaid Business on an existing data-mart (Oracle, Perl)
Hartmut Ullrich
Last position:
Freelancer at Freelancer
Projects at Raiffeisen Software Group (RSG), Linz from 2022-01-01 to 2025-03-31: application development on mainframe with PL/1, DB2, JCL, Tabex; development environment with idz, Jira, Dimensions, Confluence; execution of projects in banking reporting (own funds, capital requirements, large exposures, leverage ratio)
Project at Airbus, Hamburg from 2020-01-01 to 2022-12-31: mainframe system enhancements (TAKSY) in agile environment (Scrum, SAFe); business analysis; technical design; implementation (PL/1, DB2, IMS, JCL); test management; deployment
Peter Millitzer
Last position:
Freelance SAP HCM Consultant and Developer at Beiersdorf AG
- Project assignment ended early, further continuation only with own staff.
- Support for payroll Germany, including customizing and program analysis.
- Development of ABAP programs, ABAP OO classes and methods.
- Definition of wage types, attendances and absences, daily programs and shift schedules.
- Adjustment of schemas and rules for payroll Germany.
- SAP HCM 3rd level support according to change requests and incidents.
- Work as a freelancer, part-time, remote.
- Technologies used: SAP R/3 HR Rel. ECC 6.0, PA, PT, PY.
Axel Telthörster
Last position:
Migration of Host Programs to Decentralized Processing (Cobol to Java) at Freelancer
- Analysis of calculations in the legacy system (Cobol), reconciliation with specification and checking differences in the new system
- Managing change requests with Jira
- Basis for compare reconciliation: XML formats for further processing in Dopix (business: VS certificate, customer info, contribution statements)
- Automated XML comparisons via TWS jobs in various test systems
- Reviewing and documenting related utility programs and interface calls
- Reviewing legacy programs in terms of content, technology, and business logic
- Creating and extending JCLs for regression tests host <> decentralized
- Analyzing error cases and comparing with specifications for correctness
- Creating Jira tickets as requests or bug fixes for the Java programs
Technical environment:
- COBOL
- TSO/ISPF
- DB2/SQL (Spufi, QE2)
- IMS-DB/DC application development
- JCL, TWS (Tivoli), EJM Beta48 (AIX)
- Changeman (Extended Release Option)
- Citrix environment
- MS Office
- Ticket management with Jira
- Agile development
Frank Heimsohn
Last position:
Project Manager Database Upgrade at Bank
- Planning, coordination and tracking of tasks for database administration (DBA)
- Coordination with application developers and test managers (QA) involved in the project
- Migration of existing databases in several stages
- Coordination and communication with stakeholders
- Technologies: MariaDB
- Tools: MS Office, Confluence, Jira
- Methods: project management according to the client's process
- Project language: English / German
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
Statistics of experts using COBOL
Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.
Experience
32 years (Germany: 31 years)
Position duration
5 years (Germany: 3.2 years)
Positions per freelancer
16 (Germany: 19)
Top business areas
Information Technology, Quality Assurance, Project Management
Top industries
Banking and Finance, Information Technology, Professional Services
Certification focus areas
Information Technology, Project Management, Operations
Bachelor's degree or higher
50% (Germany: 78%)
Master's degree or higher
25% (Germany: 49%)
Certifications per freelancer
1 (Germany: 3)
Most common languages
German, English, French
Speak two or more languages
86% (Germany: 95%)
Based on our profile pool as of 30 Aug 2026.
Daily rate distribution
The chart shows how the daily rates of freelancers in this technology in Hamburg are distributed, based on recent contracts on our platform. Each bar covers a rate range — its height shows how many freelancers charge within that range.
Average rates of experts in Hamburg using COBOL
Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.
The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.
The median daily rate is the middle value of all daily rates — half of comparable freelancers charge less, half charge more. Unlike the average, it is barely affected by outliers.
Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 30 Aug 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
About the technology
Core systems
COBOL is still central in banking, insurance, logistics, and public-sector processing. It is used for high-volume batch work, account and policy processing, and core record systems that must stay predictable under load.
Typical work
- Maintain and extend legacy COBOL programs
- Review and refactor batch logic
- Support CICS online transactions
- Work with VSAM files, JCL, and IMS data flows
- Prepare safe changes for production releases
Stack around COBOL
Strong professionals usually know the surrounding mainframe stack as well as the language itself. That often includes z/OS, CICS, DB2, IMS, JCL, VSAM, and source control and testing tools used in regulated environments.
When to bring in help
Companies often need freelance expertise when internal knowledge is thin, change requests pile up, or a release touches fragile batch chains. Specialists also help with audits, incident fixes, documentation, and handover work after team changes.
What strong experts do
Good COBOL experts read old code quickly, trace data flow across jobs, and make changes without breaking downstream processes. They write clear comments, test edge cases, and understand how small edits can affect nightly runs and business reports.
Hamburg delivery
In Hamburg, COBOL work often supports large operations that depend on stable mainframe processing and careful coordination with business teams. Many assignments can be done remotely, but on-site sessions help when production history, access rules, or stakeholder reviews need close alignment.
Frequently asked questions
What clients ask us most about COBOL — answered in short.
COBOL is mainly used for business-critical processing on mainframes and other long-lived enterprise systems. Companies rely on it for batch jobs, account updates, claims handling, reporting, and other workflows where stable data handling matters more than rapid UI change.
Companies hire COBOL specialists when core systems still run the business and changes must be made carefully. These experts help with feature updates, incident fixes, code cleanup, and knowledge transfer before important staff leave or retire.
COBOL is usually chosen for mature mainframe estates, while Java or other modern stacks are often used for new services and integrations. In practice, many organizations keep COBOL for the core transaction flow and connect it to newer applications around it.
A strong COBOL professional often knows CICS, JCL, VSAM, DB2, IMS, and z/OS. They should also be comfortable with batch scheduling, source control, testing, and reading job logs and spool output.
The right level depends on the task, but COBOL work that touches production systems usually needs someone who can handle old code, mainframe tools, and business rules without supervision. For analysis, small fixes, or documentation, a focused specialist can be enough; larger migrations or rescue work need deeper system knowledge.
Yes, much COBOL work can be done remotely if access, security, and support processes are in place. In Hamburg, on-site time can still help for release planning, stakeholder workshops, or systems that require local mainframe access and tighter coordination.
Look for clear explanations of code paths, safe change habits, and experience with production support, not just language syntax. A reliable COBOL expert can describe the surrounding jobs, files, transactions, and test steps in plain language.
COBOL is the language, while Enterprise COBOL is a common IBM implementation used on z/OS. People often use the terms loosely, and the real question is usually whether the specialist can work in the full mainframe environment around the code.
The average hourly rate of freelancers in Hamburg, Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects is 107 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 856 € based on an 8-hour working day.
Of the freelancers in Hamburg, Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects, 50% hold at least a Bachelor's degree and 25% hold at least a Master's degree.
On average, freelancers in Hamburg, Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects have 32 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 5 years.
The most common languages among freelancers in Hamburg, Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects are German (100%), English (86%), and French (29%).
The most common industries among freelancers in Hamburg, Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects are Banking and Finance (86%), Information Technology (57%), and Professional Services (57%).
The most common business areas among freelancers in Hamburg, Germany who have used COBOL in their recent projects are Information Technology (100%), Quality Assurance (86%), and Project Management (71%).
Main locations of FRATCH Experts, who have recently used COBOL
Our freelancers and interim experts are at home across the DACH region — available on-site in the major business hubs or fully remote. Choose a location to discover matched specialists, local market insights and up-to-date availability.
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Philipp Thomaschewski
FRATCH CEO
