Rotating systems are crucial machines for several industrial sectors. Therefore, ways to increase the efficiency of such systems have always been pursued. A key component of rotating machines is the bearing, and by changing the bearing characteristics, it is possible to affect machine behaviour and enhance performance. This is often achieved by developing an active bearing. One way to control the system parameters is by altering the fluid film thickness of lubricated bearings. This, in turn, improves the overall stiffness and damping characteristics of the rotor. A strategy involves modifying the shape of the bearing’s inner surface. However, before designing the mechanisms needed to change the bearing shape and selecting the most appropriate control loop, it is essential to determine the optimal shape the bearing should adopt to improve a specific desired characteristic. This work investigates the optimal internal shape of two- and three-lobe bearings for enhancing load-carrying capacity and stability threshold. The results show that both optimal bearing shapes can improve the selected characteristics, and due to similar levels of improvement, the reduced number of active parts makes the two-lobe bearing design preferable for developing an active fluid film bearing.