Senior Director, Product Design

Bentley Systems is seeking a Senior Director of Product Design to shape the design vision across the Open Applications portfolio, guiding a global team of designers and researchers to deliver compelling, user-centered infrastructure software. This hybrid role based in Philadelphia, PA partners closely with product, engineering, and research leaders to weave AI-powered workflows into the product experience, driving differentiation and measurable business outcomes. The position sits at the intersection of strategy and craft, accountable for fostering a design culture that elevates user value across a complex enterprise landscape.

Responsibilities

• Define and advance a multi-year design vision for the Bentley Open Applications portfolio, ensuring design acts as a lever for business results, product differentiation, and user value.
• Lead and scale a multi-layered design organization—managers, senior contributors, UX designers, and researchers—across a distributed, global workforce.
• Represent design as a peer to Product Management and Engineering in executive forums, shaping portfolio roadmaps, investments, and prioritization decisions.
• Champion AI integration across BOA products, identifying opportunities to embed AI features that boost productivity and surface intelligent insights for infrastructure professionals.
• Promote the adoption of AI-assisted design and research workflows to accelerate delivery while upholding craft and quality.
• Establish design principles and patterns for AI-powered experiences, ensuring trust, transparency, and explainability throughout the portfolio.
• Define and evolve the design operating model, including design systems, research practices, experience strategy, and craft standards across the portfolio.
• Advocate for responsible and ethical AI, embedding considerations around bias, user agency, and privacy into design decisions.
• Build and steward executive and cross-functional relationships, aligning senior leaders across product, engineering, marketing, and data with user-centered priorities.
• Own the design department budget, headcount planning, and organizational design, balancing growth with capability and efficiency.
• Foster a culture of AI fluency, experimentation, and continuous learning within the design organization.
• Develop the next generation of design leaders by mentoring managers and senior ICs and nurturing a robust community of practice.

Requirements

• 12+ years in product design and research, with 7+ years leading teams that include managers and the scaling of organizations through growth and change.
• Proven ability to influence C-suite and executive stakeholders, shaping product strategy as a peer to senior Product and Engineering leaders.
• Strategic systems thinker capable of setting multi-year design vision and translating it into measurable business and user outcomes.
• Experience leading design for AI-enabled or data-intensive products, with a perspective on how AI reshapes user experience and design practice.
• Strong commercial acumen, including budget ownership, workforce planning, and prioritization across competing demands.
• Exceptional communicator, facilitator, and storyteller who can inspire teams and influence executives.
• Background in complex enterprise, B2B, or technical software domains (infrastructure, engineering, or industrial software a plus).

Benefits

• Collaborative work environment where ideas flourish and teamwork drives shared success; includes a colleague video and a short documentary about the company’s origins.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Bentley Impact Day: take a day off to volunteer with an organization of your choice.
• Recognition programs and the Bentley Achievers platform to celebrate milestones and noteworthy moments.
• Commitment to inclusion, belonging, and colleague wellbeing through global initiatives and resource groups.
• Opportunity to contribute to a mission-driven company focused on advancing the world’s infrastructure for better quality of life, with a track record of real-world impact through user success stories.