PhD Intern, Software Engineer - Graphics (2027)

About the Role

Figma's Rendering & Animation team builds the graphics engine that renders the canvas across Figma applications. The team focuses on making rendering performant, feature-rich, reliable, maintainable, and extensible across products and surfaces.

This PhD internship focuses on graphics, rendering, or media challenges, including 2D GPU-driven rendering, computational geometry and vector graphics, animation frameworks, anti-aliasing algorithms, shader effects, and video/image processing. Interns own a high-impact project aligned with their technical strengths, working with an intern manager, team leads, and collaborators across one or two partner teams.

Location and Duration

• Based in Figma's San Francisco, CA, or New York, NY, hub offices.
• Duration: 12 or 16 weeks, starting in May or June 2027.

Responsibilities

• Learn from industry graphics engineers as an embedded member of the Rendering & Animation team.
• Collaborate with engineers, product managers, designers, and researchers to scope and execute work.
• Develop, validate, and document solutions from prototypes through production-ready systems.
• Apply research insights to meaningful product challenges.
• Contribute to areas such as shader optimization, anti-aliasing improvements, media processing, and spline interpolation animation.

Qualifications

• Current enrollment as a fourth- or fifth-year PhD student pursuing Computer Graphics, Media Processing, or a related field.
• Experience with OpenGL, WebGL, WebGPU, Vulkan, or Metal and their respective shader languages, such as GLSL or 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, considering both use cases and the underlying low-level technology.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated computer graphics expertise 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 such as GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, or Claude to write, debug, and optimize code.
• Related industry experience through a previous internship or full-time role.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including cross-functional collaboration.

Figma encourages applications from candidates whose experience does not perfectly align with every listed qualification.

Compensation and Benefits

• Hourly base pay: $74 USD.
• Housing stipend and travel reimbursement for interns.
• Compensation and benefits are subject to change.

Interview and Application Requirements

• Candidates must keep cameras on during video interviews.
• Hired candidates must attend in-person onboarding.
• Reasonable accommodations are available for applications, interviews, and job duties. Contact accommodations-ext@figma.com. Examples include accessible interview locations, closed captions, screen-reader-compatible communications, and alternative interview formats.
• Application data is processed in accordance with Figma's Candidate Privacy Notice.
• Candidates may submit up to five applications in 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. Reapplication is permitted after the applicable period.