PhD Intern, AI Applied Research (2027)
Figma · San Francisco, CA • New York, NY
About this role
**Figma — PhD Intern, AI Applied Research (2027)** Figma is growing a team of passionate creatives and builders on a mission to make design accessible to all. The AI Research team works at the intersection of AI and design—optimizing agentic systems for design quality and end-user experience, building robust evaluators, and post-training models. This internship supports both fundamental and applied research to develop innovative AI solutions for design and creative products, contributing to new AI-driven features in Figma. **Internship details** - **When:** Winter 2027 or Summer 2027 - **Where:** San Francisco or New York **What you’ll do at Figma** - Drive fundamental and applied research in Generative AI with Figma product use cases in mind - Formulate and implement new modeling approaches to improve existing AI models and enable new AI-powered product features - Explore the boundaries of what’s possible with current technology and experiment with novel ideas - Depending on your project, publish research in leading AI/ML conferences **We’d love to hear from you if you have** - You’re a **4th or 5th year senior Ph.D. student** in AI, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, Human Computer Interaction, or a related field - Proven AI expertise via publications (e.g., **Large Language Models** or **agentic systems**) - A track record applying machine learning in academia or industry - Experience with **Python** and ML frameworks such as **PyTorch** or **TensorFlow** - Experience solving sophisticated problems and evaluating trade-offs to determine a path forward **Added plus (not required)** - Related industry experience (internship or full-time) - Experience communicating solutions to different audiences - Experience using AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude) to write, debug, and optimize code **Pay transparency (base hourly)** - **$74–$74 USD/hour** - Housing stipend and travel reimbursement also provided (subject to change) **Equal opportunity & accommodations** Figma is an equal opportunity workplace and is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities. If you need accommodations, reach out to **accommodations-ext@figma.com**. *Note: Candidates are required to keep cameras on during video interviews, and in-person onboarding is required if hired.*
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