A community for the people turning AI into real-world impact, and building for the millions.
›qafila connect --role fde→network200+ FDEs & Deployment Strategists→originقافلة · "caravan"→chaptersKSA · DXB · AUH · EU · UK&I · USA→channelsfield-intel · panels · firesides · peers→accessprivate · by invitation only›qafila join
As sovereign AI programmes go live, platform companies are building deployment teams in-region. The people doing that work had nowhere to meet.
Deployment work happens on customer sites, under NDA, across companies. Lessons rarely travel between teams.
Qafila gives FDEs and Deployment Strategists one private place to compare notes, meet peers and hear from people who have done it.
Six chapters across the Gulf, Europe, the UK & Ireland and the USA, so members connect locally and globally.
Qafila is Arabic for caravan: a group travelling together across long distances, sharing routes, supplies and what they learn on the way. Forward deployed teams work the same way.
Qafila is built for both of them, and for the work that happens on the customer's site.
Engineers who embed with customers to build, integrate and ship. They write production code and present to leadership in the same week.
The people who scope the problem, run the engagement and make sure what gets built is what the customer needs.
Every deployment runs the same path. Qafila is where the people on that path compare notes.
Find the problem worth solving
Connect models to real data and systems
Prove it works for this customer
Ship it into production
Take it to the millions
Forward Deployed Engineerbuilds the path from integration to production
Deployment Strategistscopes the problem and owns the outcome end to end
Exchange lessons from deployment with people who have been on site.
Hear from people doing the work.
Build relationships across teams, companies and regions.
Five time zones, from New York to Abu Dhabi. Local time in each chapter, live.
A panel discussion and networking event. Founding speakers and partners are being invited now.
invite --founding-speaker
Bring your deployment experience to Qafila's first panel discussion and networking gathering.
> Apply to speakinvite --founding-partner
Help bring Qafila's first gathering to life. Partner with us on a panel discussion and networking event.
Become a partnerCo-founded by Kaz Hussain, Managing Director KSA & Director, Executive Search at Salt.
Co-founded by Ricci Putnam, Chief Growth & Commercial Officer at Salt.
Forward Deployed Engineers and Deployment Strategists: the people who embed with customers to scope, build and ship AI systems into production.
Qafila is a private network and membership is by invitation only. Request a place through the Qafila WhatsApp Community using the QR code or link below.
Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Europe, the UK & Ireland and the USA.
Apply to speak on the founding panel, or partner with us to host Qafila's first panel discussion and networking event.
Qafila was co-founded by Kaz Hussain and Ricci Putnam and is presented by Salt, with a team that has a track record of community building and event partnerships, including the MENA Leaders Community.
For working Forward Deployed Engineers and Deployment Strategists. Scan the code or follow the link to request a place in the Qafila WhatsApp Community.