Joblaze summary

In this internship role, the PhD intern will engage in hands-on engineering and research to enhance Figma's interactive design tools, focusing on simplifying complex user interactions. Key skills include proficiency in coding and the ability to translate research insights into practical solutions, particularly in human-computer interaction or related fields. This position is ideal for advanced PhD students with a strong research background and collaborative experience. The intern will work closely with a supportive team, contributing to impactful projects during their tenure.

Joblaze insights

Listed today — first seen on Joblaze November 5, 2026. Last confirmed on Figma's careers page November 5, 2026.

Quick facts

Is the PhD Intern, Software Engineer - Interaction Design (2027) role remote?: It's hybrid — Figma expects some on-site time in San Francisco, CA, United States.
What's the salary range?: Figma lists $74–$74 for this role.
Where is the role based?: Figma is hiring for this position in San Francisco, CA, United States.
What's the tech stack?: Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer Interaction, Machine Learning.
What seniority level is this role?: Figma targets intern candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?: Internship for this PhD Intern, Software Engineer - Interaction Design (2027) role at Figma.

From the original posting

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!

Figma’s Interaction Design team helps designers express how interactive experiences behave from a single interaction, to a multi-state flow, to a series of complex animated transitions. We’re interested in making complex interactive behavior easier to author, refine and understand. This team investigates and identifies new ways to visualize and manage state, animations, interactions, and prototypes through click-through and code-backed experiences.

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

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 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

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

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.

Standard company text repeated across Figma's postings is omitted here.

PhD Intern, Software Engineer - Interaction Design (2027)

What you’ll do at Figma:

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

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