PhD Intern, Security Engineer (2027)

📋 Job Overview

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!

🏢 About Figma

The mission of the Figma Security team is to help Figmates ship the most secure and safe product to our users. 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. You will partner closely with teams across the company, focus on systemic security improvements and risk reduction, and participate in operational security responsibilities like security reviews, consulting, vulnerability triage, and security incident response.

🎯 The Role

This is a 12 or 16-week internship role that can be held from one of our US hubs (San Francisco or New York) starting in May or June of 2027.

✅ Key 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

📌 Required Qualifications

• 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

⭐ Desirable Experience

• 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

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.

🛂 Visa & Eligibility

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.

We will work to ensure individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to apply for a role, participate in the interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment. If you require accommodation, please reach out to [email protected]. These modifications enable an individual with a disability to have an equal opportunity not only to get a job, but successfully perform their job tasks to the same extent as people without disabilities.

Examples of accommodations include but are not limited to:

• Holding interviews in an accessible location
• Enabling closed captioning on video conferencing
• Ensuring all written communication be compatible with screen readers
• Changing the mode or format of interviews