Strategic Overview
PhD Intern, Security Engineer (2027) at Figma is a cybersecurity opportunity centered on the specialist responsibilities and outcomes described in the employer's listing.
The published role emphasizes work such as 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.
The role is listed for San Francisco, CA • New York, NY with the working arrangement published with the role, giving candidates the practical context needed to assess fit before applying.
Key information at a glance
About This Role
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…
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…
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 & Objectives
- 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 & Candidate Blueprint
- 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
- 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
Salary & Benefits
Published compensation: $74 – $74 USD
Full Job Description
The following is the complete job description supplied by the source. We sanitize unsafe markup and remove external links, but do not shorten or rewrite the employer's source content.
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!
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.
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.
What you’ll do at Figma:
- 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
We’d love to hear from you if you have:
- 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
While it’s not required, it’s an added plus if you also 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
At Figma, one of our values is Grow as you go. We believe in hiring smart, curious people who are excited to learn and develop their skills. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with the points outlined in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
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.
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.
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 accommodations-ext@figma.com. 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
To ensure the integrity of our hiring process and facilitate a more personal connection, we require all candidates keep their cameras on during video interviews. Additionally, if hired you will be required to attend in person onboarding.
By applying for this job, the candidate acknowledges and agrees that any personal data contained in their application or supporting materials will be processed in accordance with Figma's Candidate Privacy Notice.
Application limits: To help candidates focus on the opportunities most relevant to their skills and experience, Figma limits the number and frequency of applications. These limits apply to all roles:
- Candidates may submit up to 5 applications during any rolling 30-day period.
- Candidates may not reapply to the same role while an application is active or within 90 days of receiving a rejection.
Once the applicable days has passed, candidates are welcome to apply again.
Editor’s Market Perspective (Our Custom Analysis)
Why This Position Matters
This cybersecurity opening is a useful opportunity for candidates whose experience matches the role-specific capabilities named in the listing. Its strongest career signal is the scope of the work itself — particularly Perform technical security assessments, code audits, and design reviews — rather than a generic title alone.
Resume & Application Strategy
For the application, mirror the employer's language where it truthfully matches your background: foreground the role-specific capabilities named in the listing, quantify outcomes from comparable work, and place the most relevant experience near the top of the resume. If the listing specifies tools, platforms, leadership scope, or domain experience, use those exact terms in context instead of presenting an unrelated keyword list.
We organize source-provided information into this independent job-seeker overview. Compensation is shown only when the source provides it; the official listing remains the authority for current requirements and application instructions.