PhD Intern, Security Engineer (2027)

About the Role

Figma is seeking a PhD Intern, Security Engineer (2027) to join our mission to make design accessible to all. This role offers the opportunity to work on an impactful project to improve the security of Figma’s product, platform, or infrastructure, applying your research background to drive real-world impact. You will collaborate closely with a mentor and teammates, partner with cross-company teams, focus on systemic security improvements and risk reduction, and participate in operational security responsibilities.

This is a 12 or 16-week internship, with the option to be based in 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 datasets, tooling, and analysis to scope incidents, understand root cause, and reduce time to detect and respond
• Translate threat intelligence into action by operationalizing intel on relevant threat actors and techniques to prioritize detection coverage, harden high-risk surfaces, and guide security strategy

Requirements & Tech Stack

• 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, Usable 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

Added Plus

• 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