IBM i Experts
in minutes, from over 15,000 CVs with the power of AIWork with specialists who modernize RPG and COBOL applications, manage Db2 for i data, and connect IBM i systems with web services and enterprise platforms. FRATCH matches you quickly and precisely with vetted, available freelancers.
Meet FRATCH Experts who have recently used IBM i
Silvia B.
Last position:
Business Consultant - Product Management Banking at Aareal Bank AG
- Focus on optimizing and further developing the internal customer EBICS application
- Functional and technical consulting for Aareal First Financial Solutions AG on EBICS standard products and applications in the areas of operations and further development, as well as project-related communication with external development partners and the product manufacturer to implement the corresponding technical optimizations
- As the functional coordinator, providing advice on content-related and regulatory requirements as well as technical prerequisites and requirements, and bringing these together at the functional level
- Consulting on the use of EBICS formats
- Reviewing the current EBICS standard for optimization and further development potential
- Analyzing the current state to identify development potential and deriving appropriate recommendations for action while considering regulatory requirements
- Conducting EBICS tests throughout the project
- Functional responsibility for requirements management and, in this context, recording and documenting requirements for such tests
- Designing a functional and sustainable test management system
- Conducting and evaluating tests
- Consulting on sustainable quality assurance and audits
- Project language: German and English
- Tools/Methods: MS Project, MS Office, MS Visio, TestRail, Confluence, Jira, Business Logics Bankkrecher, Business Logics Test Data Generator, Business Logics Banking Tool, Business Logics Test System, DBEAVER, Squirrel, Unix Virtual Machines, WinSCP, Kitty, Putty, various Aareal Bank products, Online Banking Portal, Aareal Sign, core banking system, SAP Blue Eagle, SAP RE-FX, Aareon Wodis Sigma, Haufe Real Estate Wowinex, GAP Group Immotion, UTS Karthago, SAP IS-U/Waste, SIV kVASy, various EBICS clients
Roger B.
Last position:
Plant Manager, Steinach Plant at Frör Plaho-Tec
- Interim assignment until a new plant manager was found
- Ensured production control and on-time order processing.
- Introduced transparent weekly and monthly planning as well as forward-looking capacity management.
- Cleaned up and structured bills of materials, master data and work documents.
- Held team leader meetings and coordinated the production areas.
- Took over the professional management of the production teams.
- Promoted an open, constructive leadership culture and involved employees in change processes.
- Coordinated with adjacent areas (production planning, supply chain, quality, development).
- Documented measures and prepared the handover to permanent management
Anton E.
Last position:
Balance Sheet Accountant HGB and Consultant at Eurostyle Systems Würzburg GmbH
- Cleared a backlog of incoming documents over five months;
- Clarified residual items and overdue open items;
- Checked, reconciled, and clarified accounting matters;
- Analyzed existing processes and implemented process improvements;
- Processed accounting transactions in SAP FI and MM
Michael L.
Last position:
Head of IT at Ruthmann Holdings GmbH
- Management of IT with 10 employees, including budget and personnel responsibility.
- Harmonization of the Navision systems in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
- Connection of the ERP systems in Switzerland, Austria and Italy to the central Microsoft Power BI systems in Germany.
- Rollout of a new firewall at 10 locations in D, CH and A.
- Evaluation of a new DMS.
- Migration to Windows 10 / 11.
- Transformation of 9 countries into ONE Europe.
- Start of NIS2 implementation in 5 European countries.
Manfred B.
Last position:
Interim Manager Managing Director
- Optimization of business results and expansion of sales activities
- Responsible for personnel organization
- Introduction of a document management system (DMS)
- Introduction and optimization of the ERP, CMS and CRM landscape
- Introduction of digital signatures
- Increase in revenue, reduction in costs and increase in EBIT
Matthias B.
Last position:
Windows Administrator at Telair GmbH
Windows Administrator, software deployment, user support, Azure / Entra administrator, hardware support, software packaging, defining and introducing processes
Tasks performed:
- Handling incidents, service requests & changes in the Matrix42 ticket system
- Handling / resolving incidents
- User creation / permissions
- Installation and patch management for Windows
- Permissions and license management in Entra
- Process improvement and documentation
Tools and methods used: Windows Server 2016 / 2019, Active Directory, Windows 11, Office 365, Azure / Entra, Ivanti, VMWare & ESX, Dell & Kyocera Minolta & Zeus hardware support
Tezcan D.
Last position:
Solution Architect / Project Manager at German Football Association
- Overall responsibility for the project lifecycle from scope definition to completion
- Close collaboration with platform teams, IT leaders, and external service providers
- Application of SAFe principles and structured sprint work
- Creation of a migration roadmap with clear milestones
- Monitoring of the lifecycle: onboarding, repository migration, replication of permissions, and system tests
- Visualization of the architecture with PlantUML and Gliffy as well as documentation in Confluence
- Regular status reports and running knowledge transfer sessions
Armin V.
Last position:
Software Developer at DFS GmbH
- TANGe is a DFS project to introduce a modern digital tower system that is meant to make airport air traffic handling safer, more efficient, and future-ready. My current task in this project is the development of the Runway SID Assignment Service, which is responsible for assigning departure routes from an airport. SID - Standard Instrument Departure stands for a standardized departure route.
Software: Java, microservices, Kafka, Robot Framework, Gitlab, Kubernetes, Docker
Diego E.
Last position:
RPG Software Developer from RPG III to Free Format
- Development of software and system support for RPG development.
- Development, optimization and maintenance of programs in RPG (RPG II to ILE Free Format).
- Performing integration tasks, data management as well as applying and managing system updates.
- User support and training to ensure smooth system operation.
Dominik P.
Last position:
Head of IT at Aarsleff Spezialtiefbau GmbH
- Disciplinary and professional leadership of the IT and service team
- Definition and documentation of the Current Mode of Operation (CMO) in Confluence: application landscape, infrastructure, networks, backup & storage
- Development of the Future Mode of Operation (FMO) including process analysis & stakeholder interviews with all departments using BPMN and flowcharts
- Optimization of license management: reduction of ongoing software costs by approx. 17% p.a.
- Introduction and establishment of Jira as the central tool for project and service management
- Introduction and rollout of the HR software MindKey to digitize HR processes
- Introduction of a VoIP solution with Microsoft Teams incl. PSTN connection to replace classic telephony
- Introduction of the production and planning software OptiControl to digitize operational processes
- Rollout of Intune as a Mobile Device Management solution for Windows, iOS and Android
- Build-up of Power BI dashboards for machine park monitoring and financial reporting
- Planning and execution of the IT consolidation of two locations for 170 users
- Introduction of automated penetration testing with Pentera
- Coaching and mentoring the team in agile methods & project management
- Operational support in day-to-day business: administration, incident & change management
- Management of external service providers and assurance of the quality of outsourced IT services
- Responsibility for the IT budget incl. planning and controlling
- Direct reporting line to management with regular management reports on IT KPIs, budget and project status
Stefan S.
Last position:
Interim Manager Project Management PMO at ND Coatings GmbH (Meyer Werft Papenburg)
Revenue €90 million, 50 employees
Industry: Shipbuilding, marina
Temporary assignment as Head of PMO
Recording and validation of PMO processes
Creation of capacity planning through 2032
Evaluation of standard preservation processes, including VSM and macro mapping
Creation of planning tools for project coordinators
Participation in coordination meetings with Meyer Werft
Data preparation for the monthly review
Contribution to the tendering strategy for new ships
Creation of roles and responsibilities and job descriptions for project managers and project coordinators
Project management for the Disney Adventure cruise ship
Re-design of the reporting tool
Creation of a planning tool for project coordinators with a planning horizon through 2032
Design of an on-call service, including work instructions
Creation of calculation models for quotations
Project management for Disney Adventure
Benedikt R.
Last position:
Power BI developer at Mechanical Engineering (SME 500 emp.)
- KPI dashboards for inventory and goods received quality control & testing ETL, dataset, dataflows and report development, complex DAX solutions
Data sources: Dataverse, RDB, Excel
Tools: ETL, data modeling, data flows, Power Query, M, Power BI, complex DAX
- Capacity: 25%
Oliver O.
Last position:
Embedded Software Architect at Automotive supplier
Stellar SR6 G7 line, 32-bit Arm® Cortex®-R52+ MCU.
- MISRA-C, C99, Greenhills ARM compiler
- Dassault AUTOSAR Builder
- EB Tresos
- Sparx Enterprise Architect 16.1
- VS Code
- Python xml, lxml, NumPy and Pandas
ISO 26262, ISO 21434, hypervisor, key management, HSM. Tooling & automation. LieberLieber LemonTree + Sparx EA. Jira, Confluence, SharePoint. Git/Github. DevOps through Jenkins & Conan.
Olga B.
Last position:
Project Manager, Business Analyst & AI Expert
Goal: Select and introduce an AI operating system, build a structured knowledge base, and develop AI agents and skills to increase efficiency across the entire company
- Analyzed requirements and evaluated suitable AI operating systems based on the company’s specific needs
- Designed and built a central knowledge base as the foundation for AI-supported processes
- Developed and configured AI agents and skills for recurring business processes
- Used prompt engineering to generate precise, context-specific outputs from AI agents
- Personally coached the founders and employees on using AI independently and effectively
- Managed the overall project, including planning, prioritization, and progress tracking
- Documented the solutions used and created usage concepts for sustainable operation
Tools: Langdock, SharePoint, prompt engineering, AI agents, AI skills
Jochen G.
Last position:
Senior Specialist Software Compliance at Inter Versicherung
- Designing processes for implementing regulatory IT requirements (VAIT, BAIT, DORA, MaGo) and establishing them within the IT organization
- Monitoring the execution of these processes, quality assurance and adaptation to new requirements
- Support and coordination of the annual audit regarding regulatory IT requirements (PwC)
- ITK governance
- Software lifecycle management
- Documentation and control of the IDV development process
- Process support and policy creation when setting up test management with regard to DORA and VAIT
- Policy creation for IAM processes
- Tools/Applications: ServiceNow, Confluence, Jira, M365, Loop, Connect, Omada
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
Statistics of experts using IBM i
Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.
Experience
28 years
Position duration
2.1 years
Positions per freelancer
18
Top business areas
Project Management, Information Technology, Operations
Top industries
Information Technology, Manufacturing, Banking and Finance
Certification focus areas
Information Technology, Project Management, Operations
Bachelor's degree or higher
71%
Master's degree or higher
37%
Doctorate
8%
Certifications per freelancer
3
Most common languages
German, English, French
Speak two or more languages
96%
Based on our profile pool as of 26 Sep 2026.
Daily rate distribution
The chart shows how the daily rates of experts in this technology are distributed, based on recent contracts on our platform. Each bar covers a rate range — its height shows the share of experts charging within that range.
Average rates of experts using IBM i
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 26 Sep 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
IBM i experts industry focus
See which industries our matched freelancers work in most often — every figure is calculated live from the freelancers on FRATCH.
- Information Technology (78%)
- Manufacturing (69%)
- Banking and Finance (58%)
- Automotive (54%)
- Professional Services (48%)
- Transportation (43%)
- Insurance (36%)
- Retail (34%)
Please note that freelancers can work across multiple industries, so percentages overlap.
About the technology
Core platform
IBM i is an integrated operating system and application platform for IBM Power Systems. Formerly known as AS/400 and iSeries, it combines the operating system, Db2 for i database, security model and administration tools in one environment. Companies rely on it for stable, transaction-heavy business applications.
Business systems
IBM i supports core processes where accuracy, auditability and continuous operation matter. Typical workloads include manufacturing control, distribution, wholesale, finance, insurance, retail, logistics and public services. Its applications often manage orders, inventory, pricing, accounting, purchasing and production data.
- Maintain ERP and custom business applications
- Process high-volume orders and inventory updates
- Integrate warehouse, payment and shipping systems
- Expose IBM i data through APIs and web services
Languages and tools
Specialists commonly work with RPG, including modern free-form RPG, as well as COBOL, CL and SQL. Db2 for i is central to data access, while IBM i Services, job queues, subsystems and security features support daily operations. Depending on the estate, teams also use Java, PHP, Node.js, REST APIs, Git, CI pipelines and IBM tooling.
Modernization work
Companies bring in freelance expertise when a long-running IBM i application needs safer change without disrupting business operations. Projects may involve refactoring RPG, replacing green-screen workflows, documenting undocumented logic, improving SQL performance or connecting the system to cloud, ecommerce and analytics services. Strong specialists protect existing processes while creating a practical path forward.
When to hire
External support is useful during migrations, acquisitions, ERP changes, compliance reviews and periods of scarce internal knowledge. It can also help when a company needs to retire proprietary interfaces, improve release processes or transfer knowledge from long-serving staff. A clear scope, access plan and rollback approach reduce risk before work begins.
- Assess application dependencies and technical debt
- Design an API or integration strategy
- Convert legacy RPG patterns to maintainable code
- Tune Db2 for i queries and batch processing
Strong specialists
The best IBM i professionals understand both the platform and the business rules embedded in its applications. They can read existing RPG or COBOL, trace data across jobs and files, explain operational risks and work carefully in production-sensitive environments. Look for practical documentation, testing discipline, SQL knowledge and experience collaborating with teams across infrastructure, security and business operations.
Frequently asked questions
Questions about IBM i? Start with the answers below.
IBM i is used to run dependable business applications for processes such as finance, order management, inventory, manufacturing and logistics. It is especially common where integrated data, strong security and consistent transaction processing are essential.
IBM i combines its operating system, Db2 for i database and many management capabilities in one closely integrated environment. Compared with separate Linux or Windows application stacks, it can reduce integration points, while modernization may require more specialist knowledge of RPG, COBOL and established business logic.
A strong IBM i specialist may work with RPG, COBOL, CL, SQL and Db2 for i, along with job control, subsystems and platform security. API design, Java, PHP, REST integration, Git and release automation are valuable when the system connects to newer applications.
The right IBM i experience depends on the risk and scope of the work, not only on the age of the system. A maintenance task may need strong RPG and production support skills, while a modernization or integration project calls for application analysis, SQL, testing and experience with surrounding systems.
IBM i work can often be performed remotely when secure access, environments and deployment procedures are prepared in advance. On-site collaboration can still help with workshops, undocumented operational processes or sensitive changes, so teams should agree on access, working hours and communication needs early.
Ask an IBM i freelancer to explain how they would map dependencies, test changes and protect production workloads before altering code. Evidence of clear documentation, careful rollback planning, Db2 knowledge and communication with business users is often more useful than a list of tools.
IBM i runs many long-established applications, but it also supports modern development patterns and integrations. Teams can expose business logic through APIs, use contemporary SQL and connect IBM i data with cloud services, web applications and analytics environments.
IBM i is the current name for the platform often called AS/400 or iSeries in older documentation and conversations. Freelancers should recognize those names when reviewing historical code, job descriptions and system records, while confirming the actual IBM Power and IBM i environment before planning work.
The average hourly rate of freelancers who have used IBM i in their recent projects is 102 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 814 € based on an 8-hour working day.
Of the freelancers who have used IBM i in their recent projects, 71% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 37% hold at least a Master's degree, and 8% hold a doctorate.
On average, freelancers who have used IBM i in their recent projects have 28 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 2.1 years.
The most common languages among freelancers who have used IBM i in their recent projects are German (100%), English (93%), and French (27%).
The most common industries among freelancers who have used IBM i in their recent projects are Information Technology (78%), Manufacturing (69%), and Banking and Finance (58%).
The most common business areas among freelancers who have used IBM i in their recent projects are Project Management (85%), Information Technology (82%), and Operations (67%).
Main locations of FRATCH Experts, who have recently used IBM i
Our freelancers and interim experts are at home all over Germany — available on-site in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and every major business hub, or fully remote. Choose a city to discover matched specialists, local market insights and up-to-date availability.
Hamburg 
Munich 
Vienna Across Switzerland our specialists are active in Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Bern — working on-site or fully remote. Choose a city to discover matched specialists, local market insights and up-to-date availability.
Zurich Geneva Basel Bern Countries:
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