Software Engineer, Rendering & Animation

Overview 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! Our Creation Engine teams work on core technologies that power our real time, browser-based Figma Design and FigJam products. These teams work mostly (but not exclusively) on client-side code that runs in the browser. Under the hood, Figma shares similarities to a game engine. We develop this C++ / WebAssembly engine to ensure internal and external developers can rapidly build new products and features that are fast and reliable by default, and own areas such as our in-memory data model (SceneGraph), renderer, and multiplayer client / server protocols. Within Creation Engine, the Rendering & Animation team focuses on the lowest level of the stack, where we convert the SceneGraph into primitive rendering operations that are executed on the GPU using WebGL. Our team houses the company's expertise in rendering of 2D vector graphics, rendering algorithms, rendering APIs, and GPU profiling and optimization. Our mission is to make rendering performant, feature-rich, reliable, maintainable, and extendable across all products and surfaces. Responsibilities Work closely with teammates and partners in Engineering, Product, Design, Marketing, User Research, and Data Science to build new features and achieve roadmap goals. We prioritize collaboration and cross-functional partnerships, so you won't operate in silos. Some efforts you might impact include : Creating and optimizing shaders to render blurs of primitive shapes in a single pass Improving how we order and batch draws to reduce draw calls and render target switches Developing and implementing faster approaches to anti-aliasing (an open area of research in 2D vector graphics!) Implementing performant animations using multiple layer caches for fast compositing Drive guidance, quality, and standards for rendering at Figma, and explore opportunities that keep us on the bleeding edge of new capability and advancements Be a mentor and provide thoughtful feedback to your peers, and benefit from strong personal and professional mentorship opportunities yourself Contribute to org-wide initiatives like new hire onboarding, interview process development, and Belonging / Equity / Inclusion efforts Continue ramping and learning. The technical challenges you'll tackle on the Rendering & Animation team are unique, fun, ambitious, and ever-evolving Qualifications 8 years of professional experience shipping software with a specialization on Rendering and Graphics (2D or 3D), ideally with experience in C++ / WebAssembly Experience working on game engines, client-side technologies and platforms, and rendering APIs like OpenGL, WebGL, WebGPU, Vulkan, Metal, or DirectX Demonstrated fluency with one or more low-level programming languages, including but not limited to : C++, C, Objective-C, Go, or Rust Deep familiarity with the rendering pipeline and rendering concepts Grow as you go 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 Pay and compensation If based in Figma's San Francisco or New York hub offices, this role has the annual base salary range stated below. Job level and actual compensation will be decided based on factors including, but not limited to, individual qualifications objectively assessed during the interview process (including skills and prior relevant experience, potential impact, and scope of role), market demands, and specific work location. The listed range is a guideline, and the range for this role may be modified. For roles that are available to be filled remotely, the pay range is localized according to employee work location by a factor of between 80% and 100% of range. Please discuss your specific work location with your recruiter for more information. Figma offers equity to employees, as well a competitive package of additional benefits, including health, dental & vision, retirement with company contribution, parental leave & reproductive or family planning support, mental health & wellness benefits, generous PTO, company recharge days, a learning & development stipend, a work from home stipend, and cell phone reimbursement. Figma also offers sales incentive pay for most sales roles and an annual bonus plan for eligible non-sales roles. Figma's compensation and benefits are subject to change and may be modified in the future. Annual Base Salary Range (SF / NY Hub) : $149,000 — $350,000 USD Equal Opportunity 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. J-18808-Ljbffraa415a4b-8b21-40fc-a65c-70d2b25ca29a