PhD Intern, Software Engineer - Interaction Design (2027)

As a PhD intern, you’ll combine HCI research with hands-on-engineering to help define the next generation of interactive experience design tooling. You’ll work closely with a mentor and teammates and get to learn, contribute, and grow in a supportive environment, while applying your research background to drive real-world impact., This 12 or 16-week internship for Summer 2027 will be based out of our San Francisco or New York hub. What you’ll do at Figma:

• Be fully embedded onto a Figma team working on problems that intersect with your research area
• Drive projects that apply research insights to meaningful product challenges
• Collaborate with engineers, PMs, designers, and researchers to scope and execute your work
• Develop, validate, and document solutions from prototypes to production-ready systems
• Share your expertise through presentations, design reviews, and cross-functional collaboration
• Deliver a project with real impact by the end of your internship, * Holding interviews in an accessible location
• Enabling closed captioning on video conferencing
• Ensuring all written communication be compatible with screen readers
• Changing the mode or format of interviews

To ensure the integrity of our hiring process and facilitate a more personal connection, we require all candidates keep their cameras on during video interviews. Additionally, if hired you will be required to attend in person onboarding.

• Current enrollment as a 4th or 5th year senior PhD student pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related field
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex research concepts into practical, scalable solutions
• A track record of rigorous problem-solving through academic or applied research
• Proficiency in at least one general purpose coding language

While it’s not required, it’s an added plus if you also have:

• A creative portfolio of work consisting of time-based media, animation, game development, digital illustration, or another creative field.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with demonstrated experience collaborating across functions
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude) to write, debug, and optimize code
• Applied engineering skills via industry experience, prior internships or similar experience
• First-author publications in top academic conferences related to our team’s focus areas

Figma is growing our team of passionate creatives and builders on a mission to make design accessible to all. Figma’s platform helps teams bring ideas to life-whether you’re brainstorming, creating a prototype, translating designs into code, or iterating with AI. From idea to product, Figma empowers teams to streamline workflows, move faster, and work together in real time from anywhere in the world. If you’re excited to shape the future of design and collaboration, join us!