PhD Intern, Software Engineer - Graphics (2027)

The shape of it

In the posting’s own words

As an intern on our team, you'll take ownership of a high-impact project at the intersection of your technical strengths and our most pressing graphics, rendering, or media challenges. You'll work closely with your intern manager, team leads, and collaborators across 1–2 partner teams to deliver tangible results within your internship. This is an opportunity to do significant, portfolio-worthy work that directly supplies Figma's visual platform.

What it asks for · 4

• Current enrollment as a 4th or 5th year senior PhD student pursuing a PhD in Computer Graphics, Media Processing, or a related field
• Experience working with OpenGL, WebGL, WebGPU, Vulkan or Metal and their respective shader languages (GLSL, WGSL) or other low-level graphics APIs
• Proficiency in either C++ or Rust
• A track record of rigorous problem-solving through academic or applied research, with experience thinking holistically about use cases and the low-level technology required

Also a plus

• Demonstrated expertise in computer graphics, supported by publications at conferences such as SIGGRAPH, Eurographics, High Performance Graphics, NVIDIA GTC, or Pacific Graphics
• Proficiency in WebAssembly, web graphics, 2D graphics, performance optimization, animation, geometry, or media
• Interest in art and design applications
• Experience using AI tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude) to write, debug, and optimize code
• Related industry experience via a past internship or full-time role
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with demonstrated experience collaborating across functions

What the job covers

• Learn from industry graphics engineers and participate as an embedded team member of the Rendering & Animation team
• Collaborate with engineers, PMs, designers, and researchers to scope and execute your work
• Develop, validate, and document solutions from prototypes to production-ready systems
• Drive projects that apply research insights to meaningful product challenges
• Contribute to exciting domain areas; some examples: crafting and optimizing shaders for sophisticated effects, investigating improvements to anti-aliasing algorithms, improving media processing capabilities, animating spline interpolation, and more!

Degree language

• Current enrollment as a 4th or 5th year senior PhD student pursuing a PhD in Computer Graphics, Media Processing, or a related field

Tools and skills named

Words the posting leans on

• graphics12×
• experience7×
• rendering5×
• animation4×
• design4×
• media4×
• areas3×
• excited3×
• intern3×
• internship3×
• phd3×
• product3×
• projects3×
• shader3×
• anti-aliasing algorithms2×
• applications2×

Counted from the posting after the mission statement and the legal notices are set aside. The ones near the top are the ones a screener is looking for.

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