Build it. Ship it. Own it. One of India’s first FDE programme. A programme offered by the CEP, IIT Delhi.
Enquiry about programme
60% of business tasks are becoming AI-driven, stay relevant!
PROGRAMME OVERVIEW
Six months to become the engineer every AI company is hiring for. AI rarely fails in the lab, it fails after launch, inside real organisations. 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail to deliver value; this programme is built for the professionals who fix that.
Industry vetted curriculum
19 modules across 4 phases, 145 hours (76 live · 38 self-paced · 31 capstone & lab). Expand any module to see what you’ll actually build — then head to Projects for the five capstone builds that turn it into a portfolio.
How is this module future-proof
Model names change every year, but the mental model for judging and deploying any LLM stays constant.
Module 1 · Foundations
How modern AI models really behave, at deployment level, not demo level.
How this module is helpful
Builds a working grasp of GPT, Claude, Gemini and open-weights models.
Teaches transformer architecture at the level an FDE actually needs.
Frames the FDE mental model: AI in a real customer environment vs a demo.
Want to dive deeper into the details?
Ready to join AI Forward Deployed Engineering and take your first step towards success?
The deployment chain
Every milestone ships a working technical artefact and a customer-facing one. Four mini-capstones build progressively into a single, portfolio-grade final deployment you demo to employers and defend to an expert panel.
Take an AI idea all the way to a working tool — built end-to-end and documented like an FDE. Your first real milestone: a deployed tool plus a clean one-page write-up that proves you can ship, not just prototype.
Deliverable: A deployed AI tool + a one-page FDE-style write-up.
Build a production-grade RAG system on real, messy enterprise documents. Stand up the full retrieval pipeline, add a proper evaluation harness, and hand over an architecture write-up — the difference between a demo and a system that survives real data.
Deliverable: Production RAG system + full eval pipeline + architecture write-up.
Take a generic demo and rebuild it for a regulated bank or hospital. Deliver the architecture, a working prototype, and a risk register — building the compliance-aware engineering judgment that regulated-industry AI deployment demands.
Deliverable: Architecture + working prototype + risk register.
Audit a live LLM application end-to-end. Produce a full audit report, a remediation playbook, and a governance plan — the emerging, high-value security specialism that grows with every new AI regulation.
Deliverable: End-to-end audit report + remediation playbook + governance plan.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Six capabilities you build and practise through the programme, from first principles to production.
01
Ship RAG systems, agents and automation workflows that survive real data, real users and real constraints.
02
Stand up cloud deployments, vector databases, serving frameworks and MLOps pipelines
03
Connect models to CRMs, ERPs, internal databases and APIs, with audit trails, lineage and SOC2, HIPAA and DPDP in mind.
04
Defend against prompt injection, handle hallucinations and PII, and run bias audits aligned to the EU AI Act.
05
Run discovery, scope pilots versus production, and communicate trade-offs to CTOs, CISOs and non-technical leaders.
06
Demo to a Fortune-500 CTO, train teams, measure ROI and present the business outcome, not the feature list.
Programme Coordinator
Classes delivered by the builders themselves, get professional wisdom and real industry practice.
Head-Bharti School (BSTTM) @IIT Delhi
Prof. Manav R. Bhatnagar
Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi
Ranked among the world's Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University. Research spans quantum communications, 5G/6G networks, satellite communications and machine learning.
TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES
You build with the tools AI Forward Deployed Engineering teams actually deploy on. Capstone topics and tools are indicative. The Programme faculty may update them to reflect the most current industry needs at the time of delivery
WHY NOW
AI rarely fails in the lab. It fails after launch, and the FDE is the role companies pay a premium to fix that
1,165%
Growth in FDE job postings in 2025
STATS BY
Bloomberry
95%
Enterprise AI pilots that fail to deliver value, a deployment gap, not a model gap
STATS BY
MIT NANDA
US$4B
OpenAI’s standalone Deployment Company, 2026
STATS BY
Pragmatic Engineer
$171–550K
Global FDE pay band. India: ₹ 20–40 LPA entry · ₹ 50 LPA+ senior
STATS BY
Levels.fyi
HOW YOU LEARN
A weekend-friendly, fully live cadence, every concept paired with hands-on labs and quantum case simulations
Led by a Chair Professor ranked among the world's Top 2% Scientists, with IIT faculty and active FDEs driving the learning.
Five shipped projects, four mini-capstones and one production deployment, defended live to a subject-matter-expert panel.
Hands-on access to the QInsights No-Code Lab, one of the world's few visualisation labs, see RAG and agents before you code them.
AI mock interviews and an AI resume builder trained on FDE hiring patterns, alongside the curriculum.
An optional, two-day in-person immersion at IIT Delhi: hands-on time with faculty, peer networking with your cohort
CAMPUS IMMERSION
This programme is delivered online, built to fit around a full-time job. The campus immersion adds an 2-day in-person experience at IIT Delhi,
Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi
An offline immersion programme for interaction between faculty and learners in IIT Delhi campus. (Optional for learners to attend). Note: Travel and accommodation cost will be borne by the learners. IIT Delhi will not be responsible for the same. Hybrid option will be open to candidates who are unable to come on campus.
In-person sessions and hands-on labs inside IIT Delhi's research facilities.
Interact directly with IIT Delhi faculty, researchers, and industry mentors.
Build a lasting network with a driven cohort of working professionals.
Certificate
Earn a verified Continuing Education Programme e-certificate from IIT Delhi when you complete the programme.
Certificate of Successful Completion
50% attendance and 50% aggregate quiz marks are required for the Certificate of Successful Completion.
Certificate of Participation
A minimum of 60% attendance is required to qualify for the Certificate of Participation.
WHO SHOULD ENROL
Designed for working professionals who want to move faster, think sharper, and build with AI.
6 Months
DURATION
Weekend
Live Sessions
Online
LIVE + PACED FORMAT
July 2026
STARTS
01
Engineering & computing graduates
02
Science & quantitative graduates
03
Working professionals in technology roles
Admissions
Follow the steps to understand how cohort information works.
Cohort Calendar
Admission Process
Starting at
₹9,897/month
Learn AI, stay ahead, and make the best investment for your future with EMI options.
Payment
Balance + GST as one-shot, or EMI via NBFC partners.
Refund Policy
FAQ
The honest answers to the questions that might be holding you back.
Ready to ship production AI, not just demos? Let's talk.
