Principal UX Designer - Design System Specialist

Principal UX Designer – Design System Specialist

Location: UK and Ireland (Hybrid/Remote)

Position Summary

Bentley Systems is the infrastructure engineering software company, advancing the world’s infrastructure—sustaining both the global economy and the environment. Within Bentley, the Design organization shapes meaningful experiences—from brand to in-product interactions—with clarity, coherence, and craft.

At the heart of this mission is our Design System team, a multidisciplinary group responsible for creating a unified, scalable design foundation across Bentley’s product ecosystem. This team builds a world-class design system—complete with robust guidelines, reusable components, and accessibility baked in—ensuring consistency, efficiency, and brand integrity across all experiences.

As a Principal UX Designer, you will be the strategic driver and hands-on leader for our Design System. Your expertise in design systems, visual craft, and interaction design will shape the evolution of our foundational elements, components, and patterns. You will deliver a best-in-class Figma component library, partner with engineering to maintain pixel-perfect coded components, and ensure WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) level AA accessibility compliance is integrated at the core.

This is a high-impact role where you will set the vision, advocate for UX at scale, and mentor designers, enabling Bentley to deliver coherent, accessible, and delightful experiences across a complex product ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Own the Design System strategy—define vision, roadmap, and priorities for components, patterns, and guidelines.
• Lead visual and interaction design craft for the Design System, ensuring scalability and brand alignment.
• Deliver and maintain a robust Figma component library and supporting documentation.
• Partner with front-end engineering to achieve near 1:1 parity between design and code, enabling efficient product development.
• Embed accessibility standards (WCAG AA) into all components and patterns.
• Collaborate with Product Managers, Engineers, and UX teams to ensure adoption and alignment across Bentley’s ecosystem.
• Advocate for the value and impact of design systems at an organizational level—present progress, influence stakeholders, and secure buy-in.
• Mentor UX designers and onboard new team members.
• Contribute to user research and translate insights into system improvements.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of UX experience, with significant focus on design systems for large-scale product ecosystems.
• Proven track record of leading design system initiatives from strategy to execution.
• Advanced Figma expertise and experience building component libraries.
• Strong understanding of enterprise software design in B2B environments.
• Ability to communicate design rationale to diverse audiences, including engineering and business stakeholders.
• Familiarity with front-end development concepts and constraints.
• Exceptional presentation, negotiation, and leadership skills.

What Will Make You Stand Out

• Experience in infrastructure or construction workflows.
• Exposure to 3D/CAD environments.
• Degree in Human Computer Interaction, Computer Science, User Experience, or related field.

What We Offer:

• A great Team and culture – please see our colleague video. 
• An exciting career as an integral part of a world-leading software company providing solutions for architecture, engineering, and construction - watch this short documentary about how we got our start. 
• An attractive salary and benefits package. 
• A commitment to inclusion, belonging, and colleague well-being through global initiatives and resource groups. 
• A company committed to making a real difference by advancing the world’s infrastructure for a better quality of life, where your contributions help build a more sustainable, connected, and resilient world. Discover our latest user success stories for an insight into our global impact. 



About Bentley Systems

Around the world, infrastructure professionals rely on software from Bentley Systems to help them design, build, and operate better and more resilient infrastructure for transportation, water, energy, cities, and more. Founded in 1984 by engineers for engineers, Bentley is the partner of choice for engineering firms and owner-operators worldwide, with software that spans engineering disciplines, industry sectors, and all phases of the infrastructure lifecycle. Through our digital twin solutions, we help infrastructure professionals unlock the value of their data to transform project delivery and asset performance. www.bentley.com 

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Bentley is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and considers for employment all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, religion/belief, national origin, caste, age, or any other characteristic protected by local law or unrelated to job qualifications.

#LI-VP

#LI-Remote

#LI-Hybrid