Description
Figma is growing our team of creatives and builders on a mission to make design accessible to all.
The PhD Intern, Security Engineer role is a 12 or 16-week internship that can be held from one of our US hubs (San Francisco or New York) starting in May or June of 2027.
As a PhD Intern, Security Engineer you will work on an impactful project to improve the security of Figma’s product, platform, or infrastructure, working closely with a mentor and teammates while applying your research background to drive real-world impact.
Responsibilities:
- Perform technical security assessments, code audits, and design reviews
- Design and develop solutions to prevent or mitigate security vulnerabilities across Figma’s products, services and infrastructure
- Lead and support security investigations, developing the datasets, tooling, and analysis that help us scope incidents, understand root cause, and reduce time to detect and respond
- Translate threat intelligence into action, operationalizing intel on relevant threat actors and techniques to prioritize detection coverage, harden high-risk surfaces, and guide security strategy
Requirements:
- Current enrollment as a 4th or 5th year senior PhD student in a Computer Science program with a focus in Security or a related field
- Proficiency in at least one general-purpose coding language
- A track record in applying security techniques to projects in academia or industry, with excellent domain knowledge in at least one relevant area such as AI Safety/Evaluation, Useable security, Anti-abuse, Anti-fraud, detection and response or similar
- Strong knowledge of statistical methods and/or experimental design
- Experience solving sophisticated problems and comparing alternative solutions, trade-offs, and diverse points of view to determine a path forward
Nice to have:
- Related industry experience via a past internship or full-time role
- Proven expertise in security through publications at top security conferences like USENIX Security, NDSS, CCS, IEEE S&P
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with demonstrated experience collaborating across functions
- Experience using AI tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude) to write, debug, and optimize code
- A good understanding of at least two of Linux/Unix/Mac-based systems security, AWS security, Cloud SaaS Security, applied cryptography, anti-abuse, or web application security
Benefits:
- Hourly base pay rate: $74-$74 USD
- Housing stipend and travel reimbursement
Figma is an equal opportunity workplace.