CVP of Design

Sonar; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Sonar is seeking a CVP of Design to own the end-to-end design vision across our product portfolio. Reporting to the CPO, this role leads a global design organization and partners with Product, Engineering, and exec leadership to translate customer needs into design decisions that drive measurable business impact.

You will guide strategy, scale teams, and champion design systems while ensuring a cohesive, developer-facing product experience across Sonar's portfolio.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of management experience in product design, UX, or a related field.
• Proven end-to-end product design leadership across visual and interaction design and platform evolution.
• Deep expertise in design systems and UX best practices for developer tools.
• Experience defining design strategy that drives measurable business outcomes.
• Exceptional collaboration and communication across executives, cross-functional teams, and global stakeholders.
• Mentor and develop design talent to foster a high-performing, inclusive global culture.
• Strong understanding of customer needs and market trends in the agentic domain.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end product design vision, including visual design, interaction design, workflows, and overall platform evolution across Sonar's product line.
• Define and drive a design strategy that ties directly to measurable business outcomes, working with Product and Engineering leadership to prioritize investments. Track and report on design's impact on key business and product metrics.
• Build, scale, and lead a global design organization, including hiring, mentoring, and developing design talent to foster a high-performing, creative, and inclusive team culture.
• Champion and evolve Sonar's design systems and UX best practices, ensuring consistency and quality across a complex, technical, developer-facing product suite.
• Guide the design approach for agentic and AI-driven features, ensuring the team understands emerging patterns and best practices in this space.
• Engage directly with customers, users, and industry leaders to gather insights, and translate those insights into actionable, high-impact design solutions.
• Represent design at the executive level, communicating strategy, trade-offs, and progress to executive leadership and cross-functional, global stakeholders.
• Partner with Product Management and Engineering to ensure design is embedded early in the product development process, not bolted on at the end.

Skills

Design leadership

Global team management

Design systems

Strategy & vision

Cross-functional collaboration

Mentoring & talent development

Developer tooling experience

Job description

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

Sonar is looking for a CVP of Design to own the end-to-end design vision and execution across our product portfolio. Reporting to the CPO, this is Sonar's most senior design leadership role, responsible for setting design strategy, scaling a high-performing global design organization, and ensuring our products deliver an exceptional, cohesive experience for developers and enterprise customers alike. You will partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Executive Leadership to translate customer needs and market trends into design decisions that drive measurable business impact.

What you will do

• Own the end-to-end product design vision, including visual design, interaction design, workflows, and overall platform evolution across Sonar's product line.
• Define and drive a design strategy that ties directly to measurable business outcomes, working with Product and Engineering leadership to prioritize investments. Track and report on design's impact on key business and product metrics.
• Build, scale, and lead a global design organization, including hiring, mentoring, and developing design talent to foster a high-performing, creative, and inclusive team culture.
• Champion and evolve Sonar's design systems and UX best practices, ensuring consistency and quality across a complex, technical, developer-facing product suite.
• Guide the design approach for agentic and AI-driven features, ensuring the team understands emerging patterns and best practices in this space.
• Engage directly with customers, users, and industry leaders to gather insights, and translate those insights into actionable, high-impact design solutions.
• Represent design at the executive level, communicating strategy, trade-offs, and progress to executive leadership and cross-functional, global stakeholders.
• Partner with Product Management and Engineering to ensure design is embedded early in the product development process, not bolted on at the end.

Experience and qualifications

• 7+ years of management experience in product design, UX, or a related field, with a proven track record of leading and scaling teams globally.
• Demonstrated success in end-to-end product design leadership, including visual design, interaction design, workflows, strategic product thinking, and platform evolution.
• Deep expertise in design systems and UX best practices, including experience designing for developer tools, API based tools, or similar technical/complex products.
• Good understanding of the agentic domain and how it shapes product and design decisions.
• Experience defining design strategy that drives measurable business outcomes.
• Exceptional collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across executive leadership, cross-functional teams, and global stakeholders.
• Proven ability to mentor and develop design talent, fostering a high-performing, creative, and inclusive global design culture.
• Deep understanding of customer needs and market trends, with experience engaging directly with users and industry leaders to translate insights into actionable, high-impact design solutions.

Additional comments

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

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 [e-mail].

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.