diff --git a/ioengines.c b/ioengines.c
index d71e372..3c75fa6 100644
--- a/ioengines.c
+++ b/ioengines.c
@@ -107,6 +107,20 @@
 	ops = dlsym(dlhandle, engine_lib);
 	if (!ops)
 		ops = dlsym(dlhandle, "ioengine");
+
+	/*
+	 * For some external engines (like C++ ones) it is not that trivial
+	 * to provide a non-static ionengine structure that we can reference.
+	 * Instead we call a method which allocates the required ioengine
+	 * structure.
+	 */
+	if (!ops) {
+		get_ioengine_t get_ioengine = dlsym(dlhandle, "get_ioengine");
+
+		if (get_ioengine)
+			get_ioengine(&ops);
+	}
+
 	if (!ops) {
 		td_vmsg(td, -1, dlerror(), "dlsym");
 		dlclose(dlhandle);