Research Engineer

About the Position

Research Engineer

Geneva, Switzerland

Employee / Full-Time

On-site

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About the Company

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

Integrating seamlessly with leading AI tools, we help over 75% of the Fortune 100 build trusted, reliable, compliant software. Our products, like SonarQube and SonarQube Foundation Agent, are trusted by industry giants such as Nvidia, ServiceNow, Booking.com, Goldman Sachs, AstraZeneca, and Ford Motor Company.

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.

Responsibilities

• Create & Innovate: Participate in the conceptualization phase. Brainstorm novel ways to improve our products and provide immediate, practical feedback to steer exploratory research toward impactful and engineering-feasible paths.
• Develop Agentic Workflows: Design, prototype, and validate intelligent agentic systems and automated workflows that facilitate writing clean code, identifying root causes of system issues, and remediating complex bugs and vulnerabilities.
• Develop Pragmatic Prototypes: Build hands-on prototypes that prove the viability and scalability of research concepts. Identify engineering bottlenecks or scalability limits and propose effective mitigations early in the research phase.
• Evaluate & Benchmark: Drive the rigorous evaluation of new product features. Construct high-quality datasets, define relevant success metrics, and implement comprehensive benchmarks leveraging Sonar’s existing IP alongside third-party and open-source AI tools.
• Engineer Data Pipelines: Build and manage robust data pipelines to gather, process, and version massive code-centric datasets required for training and evaluating specialized models at scale.
• Translate Prototypes to Products: Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to integrate successful prototypes into Sonar's cutting-edge products, ensuring they meet the needs of our global user base.
• Communicate and Evangelize: Clearly articulate and document complex technical concepts and research findings to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Requirements

• Must have:

  • Advanced academic background in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related quantitative field.
  • Strong software engineering experience (minimum 2+ years in industry) with proficiency in Python and major modern programming languages.
  • Practical experience with modern agentic frameworks, software automation tools, and LLM architectures.
  • Experience of driving research projects from initial ideation to a demonstrable prototype with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Hands-on experience integrating third-party tools, program analysis frameworks, or open-source libraries into functional prototypes.
  • Proven experience in data handling: constructing high-quality datasets, defining objective success metrics, and building robust benchmarks for new solutions.
  • The ability to fast context-switch and maintain momentum across multiple concurrent, fast-moving research topics.
  • Excellent communication skills in English, with a talent for translating complex research findings into clear, actionable artifacts for product engineering squads.

• Plus:

  • Background in static analysis: abstract syntax trees (ASTs), code security, bug detection, etc.
  • Familiarity with LLM techniques such as model fine-tuning, semantic search engines, etc.
  • Experience with large-scale data processing frameworks and cloud infrastructure (e.g. AWS).

We Offer

• Competitive salary
• Opportunity to work at the forefront of AI software development
• Collaborative and inclusive work environment
• Professional development opportunities

About the Company

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.

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.

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