Staff Software Engineer (Java) - AI & Developer Experience (f/m/d)

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.

We believe code verification is the critical missing link in the Agent-Centric Development Cycle (AC/DC). Industry giants like Nvidia, ServiceNow, Booking.com, Goldman Sachs, AstraZeneca, 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.

Position description:

At Sonar, our team owns the external development experiences, including the SonarQube IDE Extensions (VS Code, IntelliJ, Visual Studio) and the Sonar Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. With over 1 million active users, we operate at a scale few developer tools achieve.

We are navigating a massive industry shift from manually written to AI-co-authored code. As a Senior/Staff member of the IDE Experience squad, you will define the vision for this hybrid engineering future, architecting an 'inner loop' that anticipates the needs of both human engineers and AI Agents. You will build the critical infrastructure that empowers the engineers to move fast, ensuring that all code is 'born clean' and secure before a PR is ever opened.

What you will do:

• Build the Real-Time Feedback Loop. Design and implement intelligent guidance systems that proactively steer both developers and AI agents toward secure patterns.
• Lead the Technical Evolution. Drive architectural decisions for the IDE Extensions and their backend. Solve for hard constraints: managing memory and CPU footprint, providing low-latency responses, ensuring we never block the UI thread.
• Architect the 'Context Engine' for AI Agents. Contribute to the development of the Sonar MCP Server and Sonar CLI, allowing local AI Agents (like Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, etc.) to 'ask' for project rules and security context before they generate code.
• Champion a Unified Experience. Ensure our tools feel 'native' in every IDE while sharing a robust logic core. Bridge the gap between platform-specific implementations (TypeScript/C#) and our shared backend (Java).
• Act as a Technical 'Force Multiplier.' Mentor the squad through design reviews.

Experience and qualifications:

• Deep Engineering Foundation. 7+ years professional experience in Java (JVM internals, IntelliJ Platform UI / Compose), TypeScript (Node.js, VS Code Extension API), or C# (.NET, Visual Studio Extensibility)
• Systems-Level Thinking. Asynchronous programming, concurrency, and IPC. Experience with LSP and/or MCP a plus.
• Product-Minded Engineering, Vision for 'Agentic' Coding, Collaborative Leadership.

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

Benefits:

• Pension Scheme 1st Pillar (Unterstützungskasse): Automatic, financed by Sonar, 3% of gross salary
• Pension Scheme 2nd Pillar (bAV): Voluntary, 15% contribution by Sonar from social security savings
• 28 PTO days plus additional days based on seniority
• Public transport reimbursement of 60% for annual subscription
• Global workforce with employees in 20+ countries representing 35+ nationalities
• Annual kick-off somewhere in the world

We do not currently support visa candidates in the US.