PhD Intern, Data Science (2027)

PhD Data Science Internship (2027)

Figma’s Data Science team partners with product, engineering, design, marketing, sales, and operations to support decisions with data. This internship is based in either the San Francisco or New York hub office.

You will apply rigorous research training to open-ended questions about products, user behavior, and Figma’s ecosystem. Projects may involve new measurement methodologies, causal inference, machine learning, or analytical systems. You will own a project from question framing through recommendations, with the potential to continue toward publication after the internship.

Responsibilities

• Partner with cross-functional teams to turn ambiguous product, platform, or business questions into well-defined data science problems.
• Analyze user, product, or business data to uncover insights and recommend actions.
• Design and evaluate experiments, metrics, statistical or machine learning models, and analytical frameworks.
• Clearly communicate assumptions, tradeoffs, limitations, and recommendations to technical and non-technical partners.
• Own a focused internship project end-to-end, including problem framing, technical execution, and final recommendations.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Economics, Operations Research, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or a related quantitative field.
• Demonstrated independent research experience, such as a thesis or equivalent research milestone.
• Fluency in one or more research methodologies or technical areas, such as statistics, experimentation, machine learning, causal inference, econometrics, optimization, user research methods, or AI/LLMs.
• Experience using a scripting language such as Python or R, plus SQL proficiency, for analysis, modeling, or complex or large-scale datasets through research, internships, or applied projects.
• Ability to explain technical concepts clearly and connect analysis to decisions, recommendations, or product/business impact.
• A curious, rigorous, self-starting mindset and ability to thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Industry or applied research experience using experimental design, causal inference, forecasting, product measurement, user research, or applied machine learning to influence decisions.
• Publications or research relevant to applied data science.
• Experience or interest in AI product measurement, LLM analytics/evaluation, recommendation systems, search, personalization, or evaluating AI-powered features.

Figma encourages applications even when past experience does not align perfectly with every qualification.

Compensation and Benefits

• Hourly base pay: $68 USD.
• Housing stipend and travel reimbursement for interns.
• Compensation and benefits are subject to change.

Interview and Application Rules

• Candidates must keep cameras on during video interviews.
• Hired candidates must attend in-person onboarding.
• Reasonable accommodations are available for applications, interviews, and employment. Contact accommodations-ext@figma.com. Examples include accessible interview locations, closed captioning, screen-reader-compatible communications, and changes to interview format.
• Application data is processed under Figma’s Candidate Privacy Notice.
• Candidates may submit up to five applications in any rolling 30-day period, across all roles.
• Candidates may not reapply to the same role while an application is active or within 90 days of rejection. Candidates may apply again after the applicable period.