PhD Intern, Software Engineer - Graphics (2027)

Figma; New York (NY); On-site; USD 84,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Housing stipend

Travel reimbursement

Job summary

Figma is seeking a PhD intern for the Rendering & Animation team to tackle high-impact graphics challenges and deliver portfolio-worthy work that feeds Figma's visual platform. You will collaborate with embedded teams to drive projects bridging research and product.

The internship lasts 12 or 16 weeks and can be based in San Francisco or New York starting May or June 2027, with mentorship and access to cutting-edge graphics tech.

Qualifications

• PhD student in graphics/related field pursuing PhD.
• Experience with low-level graphics APIs (OpenGL/WebGL/WebGPU/Vulkan/Metal).
• Proficiency in C++ or Rust.
• Strong problem-solving and holistic thinking.

Responsibilities

• Learn from industry graphics engineers and participate as an embedded team member of the Rendering & Animation team.
• Collaborate with engineers, PMs, designers, and researchers to scope and execute your work.
• Develop, validate, and document solutions from prototypes to production-ready systems.
• Drive projects that apply research insights to meaningful product challenges.
• Contribute to exciting domain areas such as shaders, anti-aliasing, and media processing.

Skills

Problem solving

Holistic thinking

Communication skills

Education

PhD student in Computer Graphics/Media Processing

Tools

OpenGL

WebGL

WebGPU

Vulkan

Metal

C++

Rust

Job description

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.

The Rendering & Animation team (R&A) builds the graphics engine which renders the canvas for all Figma applications. Our mission is to make rendering performant, feature-rich, reliable, maintainable and extendible across all products & surfaces. The team plays a core, bedrock role for the company because it underpins the technology driving the user experience, touching many other teams, and as such is one of the most impactful areas of Figma.

The R&A team is devoted to hiring individuals with graphics expertise. We are interested in a variety of sub-domains, including 2D GPU-driven rendering, computational geometry & vector graphics, animation frameworks, anti-aliasing algorithms, shader effects, and more recently branching into video/image processing. A PhD Intern specializing in any of these areas would be a phenomenal fit for the team with a lot of exciting projects available.

As an intern on our team, you'll take ownership of a high-impact project at the intersection of your technical strengths and our most pressing graphics, rendering, or media challenges. You'll work closely with your intern manager, team leads, and collaborators across 1–2 partner teams to deliver tangible results within your internship. This is an opportunity to do significant, portfolio-worthy work that directly supplies Figma's visual platform.

This is a 12 or 16-week internship role that can be held from one of our US hubs (San Francisco or New York) starting in May or June of 2027.

At Figma, one of our values is Grow as you go. We believe in hiring smart, curious people who are excited to learn and develop their skills.

What you'll do at Figma:

• Learn from industry graphics engineers and participate as an embedded team member of the Rendering & Animation team
• Collaborate with engineers, PMs, designers, and researchers to scope and execute your work
• Develop, validate, and document solutions from prototypes to production-ready systems
• Drive projects that apply research insights to meaningful product challenges
• Contribute to exciting domain areas; some examples: crafting and optimizing shaders for sophisticated effects, investigating improvements to anti-aliasing algorithms, improving media processing capabilities, animating spline interpolation, and more!

We'd love to hear from you if you have:

• Current enrollment as a 4th or 5th year senior PhD student pursuing a PhD in Computer Graphics, Media Processing, or a related field
• Experience working with OpenGL, WebGL, WebGPU, Vulkan or Metal and their respective shader languages (GLSL, WGSL) or other low-level graphics APIs
• Proficiency in either C++ or Rust
• A track record of rigorous problem-solving through academic or applied research, with experience thinking holistically about use cases and the low-level technology required

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

• Demonstrated expertise in computer graphics, supported by publications at conferences such as SIGGRAPH, Eurographics, High Performance Graphics, NVIDIA GTC, or Pacific Graphics
• Proficiency in WebAssembly, web graphics, 2D graphics, performance optimization, animation, geometry, or media
• Interest in art and design applications
• Experience using AI tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude) to write, debug, and optimize code
• Related industry experience via a past internship or full-time role
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with demonstrated experience collaborating across functions

Internship

$74—$74 USD

Pay Transparency Disclosure

This internship role is based in either Figma’s San Francisco or New York hub offices, and has the hourly base pay rate stated below.

• Figma also offers interns a housing stipend and travel reimbursement.

Figma’s compensation and benefits are subject to change and may be modified in the future.

Examples of accommodations include but are not limited to:

• 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.

By applying for this job, the candidate acknowledges and agrees that any personal data contained in their application or supporting materials will be processed in accordance with Figma's Candidate Privacy Notice.

Application limits:

• Candidates may submit up to 5 applications during any rolling 30-day period.
• Candidates may not reapply to the same role while an application is active or within 90 days of receiving a rejection.

Once the applicable days has passed, candidates are welcome to apply again.