Compiler Engineer + SCIP Maintainer [IC4-5]

Who we are

Everything is changing in how software gets built, and Sourcegraph is at the center of that transformation. With Code Search, Deep Search, and MCP, Sourcegraph is the world’s most powerful code intelligence platform that developers and agents rely on to navigate, understand, and operate on massive, complex codebases with speed and confidence. Teams at companies like Stripe, Uber, and Dropbox rely on Sourcegraph to ship faster and with higher quality. We’re backed by a16z, Sequoia, and Redpoint, and proud to operate as a globally distributed team that values high agency, direct communication, and a deep love for developers and their craft. If you want to contribute to infrastructure that empowers millions of developers to do their best work - join us.

Why this job is exciting

Precise code intelligence is the deterministic ground truth foundational to how the world's most important companies understand their code, and we intend to make it the bedrock for how their AI agents do, too. It is powered by SCIP, the open, language-agnostic protocol for indexing source code that enables go-to-definition, find-references, go-to-implementation, hover documentation, and dependency analysis across repository and language boundaries. SCIP is already emitted by an ecosystem of indexers spanning every major language and consumed by tools well beyond Sourcegraph, Mozilla's Searchfox, rust-analyzer, and Meta's Glean among them. This is a senior to staff-level role that is equal parts compiler engineering and open-source leadership.

Responsibilities

• Grow SCIP into a thriving, self-sustaining, multi-party open standard.
• Shape governance and the roadmap by owning the protocol with its indexer ecosystem.
• Review and mentor contributors, setting the bar for quality.
• Drive alignment across organizations like Meta, Uber, Mozilla, and Stripe.
• Define what precise code intelligence looks like, from AI-assisted indexer setup to grounding agents in verifiable facts about code.

Within one month, you will…

• Get to know your team and its processes.
• Get the SCIP toolchain running end-to-end.
• Land your first fixes and improvements across the indexer and protocol repos.
• Build a clear picture of the health of the SCIP ecosystem.

Within three months, you will…

• Own SCIP governance and community direction.
• Set the technical direction for the protocol and its indexers.
• Deepen relationships with partner organizations invested in SCIP.

Within six months, you will…

• Have grown SCIP into a healthier, more active multi-party open ecosystem.
• Shape Sourcegraph's company-level bets where precise code intelligence intersects AI.

About you

• You are a senior to staff-level open-source standard-bearer with credible compiler and language fluency.
• You have credible compiler and language fluency and are comfortable in the guts of a compiler or language toolchain.
• You should feel at home diving into any of the codebases and toolset this role touches.
• You operate at staff scope and are comfortable with broad direction.
• You are genuinely AI-forward and excited about precise code intelligence.
• You communicate with authority in the open and have led open source projects.

Nice to haves

• Experience creating or leading a developer tool or standard consumed across many organizations.
• Familiarity with code-intelligence formats and tooling: SCIP, LSIF, LSP, tree-sitter, rust-analyzer, or comparable ecosystems.
• Experience partnering with large engineering organizations as co-maintainers or standard-setters.
• Willingness to learn Go, which our backend is written in.