Amihan Global Strategies, a technology company that helps businesses use artificial intelligence (AI), is investing $1 million to train Filipino engineers to build AI systems, with the United States as the main market for their services.
The company launched the Amihan FDE Academy to train forward-deployed engineers (FDEs). These engineers work closely with businesses to understand their problems and build AI tools that help employees do their jobs.
“Every enterprise will become an agentic enterprise, and every one of them will need builders,” said Winston Damarillo, chair of Amihan. “The question for every Philippine CEO is whether those builders sit inside your company or inside your competitor’s.”
An agentic enterprise uses AI systems that can carry out tasks, rather than simply answer questions. The academy will prepare engineers to build these systems and help companies use them in everyday work.
It is part of Amihan’s new Agentic Enterprise Center of Excellence, launched recently. The academy aims to help Philippine businesses put AI into use after testing it, while helping the business process outsourcing industry handle more complex AI work.
The $1 million will fund course development and the paid time engineers spend preparing and teaching lessons. Damarillo said participants would learn from engineers who build technology themselves.
Amihan’s engineers have worked with major Philippine banks, telecommunications companies, and large business groups. They will train client companies’ engineers using the systems those companies already have.
The academy is powered by Anthropic, Amazon Web Services (AWS), SpaceX Super Intelligence (SpaceXSI), and Nous Research’s Hermes Agent.
Participants will learn to build AI agents, or programs that carry out tasks, using Anthropic’s Claude. They will also learn to build secure systems on AWS and use SpaceXSI’s Grok and Cursor to help develop software.
The training includes comparing AI platforms and learning how to manage their use within a company. For Filipino software engineers, these skills could open opportunities to serve US-based businesses.
“Our primary market will be the US,” Damarillo said.
The role involves more than writing code. FDEs need to understand how a business works and help decide what tools it needs.
“Especially at the starting point of AI adoption, you need someone that is fluent in the elements of the tools but understands your business,” Damarillo said.
Engineers can build on skills they already have. Experience in handling data, developing products, or working in a particular industry can provide a starting point. Damarillo said curiosity, problem-solving skills, and a willingness to learn are also important. He expects companies using AI to need these skills within their own teams.
“On the enterprise side, I think everyone will require an FDE-like skill set to be successful in AI,” he said.
For software engineers, the academy offers training in both building AI systems and helping businesses make them useful in daily work.