PhD Intern, Software Engineer - Graphics (2027)

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!

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

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

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. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with the points outlined in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

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.

Internship$74—$74 USD

At Figma we celebrate and support our differences. We know employing a team rich in diverse thoughts, experiences, and opinions allows our employees, our product and our community to flourish. Figma is an equal opportunity workplace - we are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity/expression, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

We will work to ensure individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to apply for a role, participate in the interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment. If you require accommodation, please reach out to [email protected]. These modifications enable an individual with a disability to have an equal opportunity not only to get a job, but successfully perform their job tasks to the same extent as people without disabilities.

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: To help candidates focus on the opportunities most relevant to their skills and experience, Figma limits the number and frequency of applications. These limits apply to all roles:

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.