Head of Engineering

Bentley Systems; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 190,000 - 290,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading software company is seeking a Head of Platform Engineering in Philadelphia. The role involves leading a large engineering team across multiple locations, fostering a culture of collaboration, and ensuring the effective execution of software projects. The ideal candidate will have over 15 years of experience in software development and strong leadership skills. Familiarity with technologies such as TypeScript, JavaScript, and cloud services like AWS or Azure is preferred. The position requires about 25% global travel.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in software development.
• Leadership experience developing successful APIs and platforms.
• Strong communication skills with various stakeholders.
• Transparent leadership with high emotional intelligence and zero politics.
• Approx. 25% global travel.
• Knowledge of TypeScript, JavaScript, C++, SQL, MCP, AWS and/or Azure is a plus.
• VC-backed or post-merger integration experience is preferred.
• Geospatial/AECO/infrastructure/defense/graphics knowledge is a bonus.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering team of 120+ across different locations.
• Facilitate a culture of collaboration and openness.
• Manage performance and growth of individual contributors.
• Ensure continuous high-quality software delivery with transparent stakeholder engagement.
• Collaborate with product mgmt to execute the roadmap.
• Recruit, onboard, coach, and manage performance across teams.
• Contribute to investment decisions aligned to market opportunities.

Skills

Leadership

Effective communication

Team management

Software development

Emotional intelligence

API development

Stakeholder management

Emotional intelligence

Tools

TypeScript

JavaScript

C++

SQL

AWS

Azure

Job description

Position Summary

We are developing the open platform to empower software developers and agentic AI workflows to build digital twin experiences for the built and natural environment. We are in an extraordinary position with established market adoption combined with whitespace opportunities. Bentley Systems is a leading position in 3D geospatial open standards. The open-source geospatial Cesium platform has more than 10,000,000 lifetime downloads with cloud services reaching more than 30,000 monthly active developers. Our work has a broad reach ranging from the world’s largest construction companies to the US government to FOX Sports on NFL Sunday.

Our Reality Capture technology is based on some of the most robust and celebrated photogrammetry algorithms combined with modern advancements such as Gaussian Splats. Our iTwin Digital Twin services bring deep infrastructure engineering capabilities across the design, build, and operate lifecycle, akin to git for infrastructure assets.

As we unify our platform services for geospatial, reality data, and infrastructure using the widely adopted Cesium platform, brand, and authentic open-source approach, we are looking for the Head of Platform Engineering to lead the software engineering execution. Reporting directly to the Chief Platform Officer, you will collaborate closely with product management, the developer community, and our global engineering teams to advance the platform for the common good of the ecosystem and to grow our business.

Responsibilities

• Drive engineering outcomes aligned to desired business objectives by leading an engineering team of 120+ colleagues, mainly across the US East Coast, Canada, Lithuania, India, and France.
• Install a business-minded winning engineering culture and facilitate the team to converge on, document, and execute modern software engineering best practices.
• Facilitate a culture of openness and collaboration, internally within and among teams, and externally with the open-source community that we serve.
• Run the systems and processes to enable us to continuously ship high-quality software that users want while transparently engaging with stakeholders.
• Collaborate cross-functionally, especially with product management to execute the roadmap.
• Recruit; onboard; coach; grow; and proactively manage performance for individual contributors and leaders. You understand that your success is the team’s success and you are committed to architecting and supporting the team to create business outcomes.
• Contribute to investment decisions aligned to market opportunities.

Requirements

• This is a leadership role requiring creating space for teams to do their best work; culture championing; and running systems and processes. This is not a technical expert role nor a hands‑on role. However, the successful candidate will have an engineering background and will go deep with teams and individuals as needed.
• Has 15+ years of experience in software development with significant and sustained demonstratable experience leading global teams at scale to enduring business success.
• Leadership experience developing successful APIs, libraries, platforms, and/or specifications for software developers.
• Is a fantastic communicator in person and in writing to a variety of stakeholders, including technical and non-technical audiences, and individual contributors and executives.
• Is transparent, has no hidden agenda, and demonstrates a high degree of emotional intelligence. Operates without politics.
• About 25% purpose-based global travel.
• We also prefer
  • Knowledge of TypeScript, JavaScript, C++, SQL, MCP, AWS, and/or Azure.
  • Leadership at a late‑stage VC‑backed technology company and/or a large technology company with post‑merger integration experience.
  • Knowledge of geospatial, AECO, infrastructure, defense, intelligence, and/or computer graphics industries is a bonus.