Bengaluru, 3rd November 2026: The International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B), in partnership with upGrad, has launched the Executive Post Graduate Programme in Forward Deployed AI Engineering, a six-month programme designed for experienced engineers looking to build and deploy AI solutions directly for enterprise clients.
As organisations move from AI experimentation towards production-scale deployment, the role of engineers is increasingly extending beyond building technology. They are working closely with enterprise customers to identify business problems, architect solutions, deploy AI systems and drive implementation. This is driving the emergence of the Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) — a role that brings together AI, engineering, business understanding and customer delivery.
Prof. V Sridhar, Head, Continuing Professional Education (CPE), IIIT-Bangalore, said: “As AI progresses from experimentation to enterprise deployment, there is a growing need for engineers who can combine technical expertise with an understanding of business needs and customer requirements. Through this programme, IIIT Bangalore and upGrad aim to equip professionals with hands-on experience in building, designing, deploying and delivering AI solutions in enterprise environments, preparing them for the evolving role of the Forward Deployed Engineer.”
Delivered through a live online cohort over six months, the programme combines live sessions, guided labs, craft drills and a live client capstone. Participants will receive approximately 120 hours of learning covering production engineering, large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, client discovery and solution architecture, enterprise deployment, AI security and client delivery. Successful participants will receive a Postgraduate Programme Certificate from IIIT-Bangalore.
Anuj Vishwakarma, CEO, Higher Education, upGrad, said: “As enterprises move from AI pilots to production, there is a growing demand for professionals who can bring together engineering expertise, customer requirements and business outcomes. At upGrad, we see the Forward Deployed Engineer emerging as a significant role in this transition. Through our partnership with IIIT-Bangalore, this programme is designed to give experienced engineers the technical depth, deployment experience and client-facing aptitude required to take AI solutions from problem identification to production.”
The curriculum spans five courses and an end-to-end capstone, covering production engineering, LLMs, RAG, agentic AI, enterprise deployment and client delivery. As part of the programme, participants will build and deploy an AI solution through a live capstone, with the programme culminating in a capstone project and live project deployment. The programme also includes a one-day campus immersion at IIIT-Bangalore.
The programme is designed for software and AI/ML engineers and professionals with technical experience in pre-sales and solutions. Applicants should hold a relevant technology degree, demonstrate proficiency in Python and have experience building a data pipeline or REST API.
