Staff Security Engineer

Who is Sonar?

Sonar is driving the future of agent-centric software development. As the leader in AI code review and verification, we solve a critical problem: ensuring that software generated by AI-assisted developers or autonomous agents is reliable, secure, and maintainable.

Integrating seamlessly with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini, and Devin, we help over 75% of the Fortune 100 build trusted, reliable, compliant software. Customers who use Sonar are 44% less likely to report an outage due to AI-generated code.

We believe code verification is the critical missing link in the Agent-Centric Development Cycle (AC/DC). Industry giants like Nvidia, Mastercard, NASA, Deutsche Bank, and Ford Motor Company count on us to provide independent, explainable, consistent review and governance of their AI-generated code via products like:

• SonarQube: The world’s leading AI code review and verification platform.
• SonarQube Foundation Agent: Currently topping the leaderboards for agentic software repair.
• SonarSweep & Sonar Context Augmentation: Providing the enterprise-grade context and constraints agents need to be truly effective.
  
  

Our team operates across global hubs in Austin, Bochum, Dubai, Geneva, London, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington D.C. We move with a mindset we call CODE:

• Committed to our customers and community.
• Obsessed with quality.
• Deliberate in our decisions.
• Effective as one team.
  
  

With over $400M in revenue and profitable, fast-paced growth, we are building the backbone of the AI software revolution. If you’re hungry to have an impact, want to build at a fast pace, and ready to work at the forefront of AI, we want to hear from you.

Position Description

Working closely with the CISO, you will be the trusted security expert for senior leadership, engineering teams, and, when needed, the incident management team, bringing clarity, calm, and expertise when it matters most.

The primary goal of the Information Security team is to earn deep trust with our rapidly growing customer base by relentlessly safeguarding Sonar products and our cloud platforms, while consistently demonstrating that Sonar meets demanding, industry‑leading security standards.

You will drive the strategy and champion security by design by partnering with product, platform, and infrastructure engineering teams, ensuring that our products, cloud platforms, and networks are designed, built, and operated to meet Sonar’s high security bar.

Through Sonar’s “collective intelligence” mindset, your curiosity, creativity, and positive influence will amplify the impact of the entire organization and directly fuel the company’s growth.

What You Will Do

• Security Strategy: Support the development of strategic security goals and maintain their alignment with the company mission and priorities.
• Secure by design: Closely collaborate with product engineering teams to co‑create secure, resilient solutions, bringing security considerations into the earliest stages of design.
• Secure by design: Review product architectures and cloud solutions with a critical and curious eye, ensuring security requirements are not only integrated but actively shape the final design.
• Offensive security: Drive internal and external security reviews, penetration tests, and red‑team exercises that challenge assumptions and reveal real‑world attack paths, periodically.
• Offensive security: Lead the selection, coordination, and oversight of external pen testing services and security certifications, transforming their findings into meaningful improvements.
• Projects and initiatives: Drive high‑impact security initiatives from the strategic security plan — from evaluating new approaches to rolling out cutting‑edge tools and capabilities across the organization.
• Customer trust: Investigate and manage customer security concerns with empathy and rigor, turning challenging questions into opportunities to deepen trust.
• Resolve security issues: Dive into complex security findings in products and internal systems, investigate root causes, and guide teams to robust, sustainable remediation.
• Security incidents: Act as a security subject matter expert during security incidents, helping teams to quickly understand, contain, and learn from emerging threats.
  
  

Experience And Qualifications

• You can demonstrate in‑depth experience with cloud architectures - primarily AWS and distributed networks, and you’re motivated to keep exploring how modern cloud patterns can both strengthen and weaken security.
• You can demonstrate deep experience with application security assessments, including reviewing code and evaluating authentication and authorization designs with a high level of curiosity and rigor.
• You can demonstrate experience assessing and securing AI, Agentic and MCPs, and you are eager to experiment, learn, and define best practices in this fast‑moving space.
• You can demonstrate experience in penetration testing, red‑team engagements, and bug bounty programs, and you enjoy thinking like an attacker to protect what matters most.
• You can demonstrate experience with vulnerability investigation and management, from triage and prioritization to driving remediation and learning across teams.
• You can demonstrate experience with threat modeling using frameworks like STRIDE, and you naturally use these techniques to spark better design discussions.
• You can demonstrate hands-on experience with coding, “vibe‑coding,” and scripting (for example, Python, Bash), and you enjoy building small tools and experiments that make security work faster and smarter.
• Familiarity with Azure, GCP, and Google Workspace is a plus and so is a desire to keep learning new platforms and ecosystems as Sonar evolves.
  
  

Additional Comments

This role is based in Austin, TX . We are unable to consider candidates unwilling to be in Austin , but we are willing to relocate the right candidate.

Benefits

• Flexible comprehensive employee benefit package.
• We encourage usage of our robust time-off allocations. You will receive 23 days of PTO per calendar year (on a pro-rated basis depending on your employment start date), with additional time provided for sickness, life events and holidays.
• We offer an exciting 401(k) plan that has a 4% match, fully vested on day one of participation.
• Generous discretionary Company Growth Bonus, paid annually.
• Fully paid parking in the heart of downtown Austin, Texas.
• Global workforce with employees in 20 countries representing 35 unique nationalities.
• We have an annual kick-off somewhere in the world where we meet to build relationships and goals for the company.
• Monthly catered events, and team events.
  
  

We value diversity, equity, and inclusion

At Sonar, we believe that our diversity is our strength. We are a global company that values and respects different backgrounds, perspectives, and cultures. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment where everyone feels valued and empowered to contribute their best. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and welcome all qualified applicants, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

If you need any accommodation, please reach out to us at [email protected] .

All offers of employment at Sonar are contingent upon the results of a comprehensive background check and reference verification conducted before the start date.

We do not currently support visa candidates in the US.

Applications that are submitted through agencies or third party recruiters will not be considered.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.