Description
Figma is growing our team of creatives and builders on a mission to make design accessible to all.
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.
As a PhD intern, you’ll combine HCI research with hands-on-engineering to help define the next generation of interactive experience design tooling.
Responsibilities:
- 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
Requirements:
- 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
Nice to have:
- 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
Benefits:
- Housing stipend and travel reimbursement
- Opportunity to work in a supportive environment and grow your skills