Senior Principal Engineer

About the Role

Bentley Systems is looking for an experienced Senior Principal Engineer to lead and take ownership of the comprehensive technical architecture of the Bentley Developer Platform based in Dublin on a hybrid basis. This platform includes components such as the front-end developer experience, API gateway, authentication mechanisms, metering, and billing infrastructure powering Bentley’s suite of developer APIs and MCP servers.

This role requires a hands-on technical leader who will guide the architectural vision, write and review production code, and serve as the primary senior technical authority supporting the engineering team with complex decisions. The position involves collaboration with Product teams to establish API standards while working with engineering teams across the API portfolio to maintain design standards, security protocols, and integration approaches.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and define the developer platform architecture covering API gateway, authentication, metering, billing integrations, and settlements, ensuring cloud-native scalability and extensibility.
• Own the full platform architecture from the developer’s perspective through to the API registry, including aspects like commercialization, adoption, technical support, monitoring, and analytics.
• Collaborate with the Product team to formulate API standards supporting monitoring, authentication, metering, and registration processes.
• Contribute directly through writing production-level code and reviewing pull requests, maintaining a critical hands-on technical presence to assist engineers.
• Act as the main technical liaison between Developer Platform, Product & Technology teams, becoming the trusted subject matter expert on platform issues.
• Co-develop and release the first version of the API Design Standards, coordinating with product teams to ensure alignment with real-world technical implementations and practical adoption.
• Manage platform governance including telemetry schemas, hub listing criteria, security policies, and integration standards applied uniformly across all APIs.
• Implement IMS OAuth as the standard authentication mechanism across all parts of the platform.
• Define clear migration strategies for existing APIs to comply with platform standards.
• Ensure AI and MCP platform components are fully integrated, with well-documented agent integration patterns alongside traditional REST APIs.
• Work jointly with the Engineering Manager on recruitment, team organization, and planning delivery priorities.
• Collaborate with the CIO organization to align enterprise applications, ERP integration, and establish a cohesive unified architecture.

Qualifications and Experience

• Minimum 12 years in software engineering with substantial experience architecting extensive, scalable systems.
• Proven expertise in owning end-to-end developer platform architecture, inclusive of front-end developer experience, API registry, commercialization, and analytics.
• Track record collaborating closely with Product to develop and implement global API standards enabling monitoring, authentication, and registration.
• Experience managing enterprise IT architectures and delivering bespoke customer-facing API-driven software solutions.
• Strong knowledge of OAuth 2.0/OIDC protocols, token management, and platform security frameworks.
• Hands-on engineering skills in distributed systems, event streaming, API gateways, routing mechanisms, usage-based billing pipelines, and ERP/settlement integration.
• Combination of practical coding expertise and effective communication to partner with varied product engineering teams.
• Familiarity with AI and agent integration patterns as well as MCP platforms is highly advantageous.
• Excellent communication skills capable of aligning senior stakeholders and engineering teams across organizational boundaries.

What Bentley Systems Offers

• A supportive team and positive corporate culture.
• Opportunity to grow within a globally recognized software company serving architecture, engineering, and construction markets.
• Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.
• Dedication to inclusion, belonging, and well-being through worldwide initiatives and employee resource groups.
• An impactful role advancing global infrastructure for improved quality of life, contributing to a more sustainable and resilient world.