Application Security Researcher (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. 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, 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. 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

As an Application Security Researcher, you play a central role in realizing our ambition to provide the best SAST solution on the market. Like us, you believe that application security is not the responsibility of a few experts and that developers can have the biggest impact when they get the right information at the right time.

As a member of the Code Security team, you decide what security issues the product should detect and how they materialize in various language ecosystems. You work closely with static analysis developers to specify, clarify, communicate, and validate all functional aspects of the security rules.

You will be a trusted adviser of developers, able to provide meaningful code samples and specifications. This is a great way to have a direct impact on the product and, ultimately, on how millions of developers produce code.

What You Will Do

• Build expertise on various language ecosystems in order to identify the most common vulnerabilities that developers are facing.
• Investigate how these vulnerabilities materialize within the code.
• Define the static analysis rules that will detect these vulnerabilities.
• Interact with our user community to clarify this invaluable feedback and turn it into actions/decisions, such as refining too noisy vulnerability detection rules or improving taint-analyzer vulnerability reports with contextual information.
• Drive innovation to make our SAST engine even better.
• Study competitors and provide gap analyses.

Experience And Qualifications

Technical skills

• Mastering application security basics, including knowing the most common vulnerabilities, how to locate vulnerabilities in the code, and how to exploit basic vulnerabilities. To be successful, you should be interested or involved in the application security ecosystem.
• Having a developer mindset: experience with coding lifecycle, ability to produce secure code, to do code reviews, and to jump into an unknown codebase, language, and framework.
• Master at least one programming language along with its development environment to understand end-users' context and expectations.

Soft Skills

• Strong communication skills, i.e. both listening and expressing constructive ideas.
• High level of autonomy and still accepting help and feedback from team members.
• Ability to work and communicate with non-security experts.

Nice to have

• Understanding of static analysis mechanisms.
• Ability to challenge rule implementation.

Additional Comments

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

Salary range

€70,000 - €115,000 a year

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 and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. 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.