Role Description & Responsibilities
Data Science
About Figma
Figma is a high-growth technology leader building scalable solutions for global users. Millions of companies and teams rely on their infrastructure and services to execute high-value workflows, analyze massive datasets, and scale modern operations.
CadetX Candidate Advantage: As an applicant for this Data Science role, you are evaluated on practical proficiency with real-world query execution, data pipelines, and clear stakeholder communication.
CadetX Role Brief & Company Specifications
Role Mission & Impact
Figma’s Data Science team partners across product, engineering, design, marketing, sales, and operations to help Figma make better decisions with data. As a PhD Data Science Intern, you’ll bring rigorous research training to some of Figma’s most important and open-ended questions, from researching emerging product and user behaviors and Figma’s broader ecosystem to developing new measurement methodologies, applying causal inference or machine learning, and building analytical systems. You’ll own a data science project end-to-end: from framing the question and methodology to translating findings into insights that influence Figma’s products, strategy, or data science practices; with the potential to continue toward publication after the internship.
This internship will be based out of our San Francisco or New York hub.
Key Responsibilities & Day-to-Day Scope
- ✓ Partner with cross-functional teams to turn ambiguous product, platform, or business questions into well-defined data science problems
- ✓ Analyze user, product, or business data to uncover insights and recommend actions
- ✓ Design and evaluate experiments, metrics, statistical or machine learning models, and analytical frameworks
- ✓ Communicate assumptions, tradeoffs, limitations, and recommendations clearly to technical and non-technical partners
- ✓ Own a focused internship project end-to-end, from problem framing and technical execution through final recommendations, with potential to continue toward publication after the internship
- ✓ Currently pursuing a PhD in Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Economics, Operations Research, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or a related quantitative field; with demonstrated experience conducting independent research (e.g. thesis or equivalent research milestone)
- ✓ Demonstrated fluency in one or more research methodologies or technical areas, such as statistics, experimentation, machine learning, causal inference, econometrics, optimization, user research methods, or AI/LLMs
Official Qualifications & Technical Requirements
- • Experience using a scripting language such as Python or R, as well as proficiency with SQL, for analysis, modeling, or work with complex or large-scale datasets through research, internships, or applied projects
- • Ability to explain technical concepts clearly and connect analysis to decisions, recommendations, or product/business impact
- • A curious, rigorous, and self-starting mindset, with the ability to thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and translate research into real-world impact
- • Prior industry or applied research experience with experimental design, causal inference, forecasting, product measurement, user research, or applied machine learning to influence product, business, platform, or stakeholder decisions
- • Publications or research relevant to applied data science
- • Experience or interest in AI product measurement, LLM analytics/evaluation, recommendation systems, search, personalization, or evaluating AI-powered features
Preferred Skills & Technology Stack
- + Familiarity with distributed compute frameworks (Apache Spark, Databricks).
- + Experience with experiment tracking tools (MLflow, Weights & Biases) and containerization (Docker).
- + Personal GitHub repository or competition profile (Kaggle) demonstrating practical data science projects.
Tech Stack & Tools in this role
Expected technical competencies for Day 1 productivity:
★ Life & Culture at Figma
Verified EmployerFigma champions rigorous analytical discipline, continuous learning, and low-ego teamwork. Team members enjoy flexible hybrid allowances, learning stipends, and structured mentorship to fast-track career mobility.