# Ali Farooq, Product Engineer > I build AI products that work outside the demo, with real users, real data and real deadlines. Ali Farooq is a Product Engineer in Canada with 16 years in production. He builds AI products that work outside the demo, with real users, real data and real deadlines. Web version at https://www.alifarooq.io/, updated 2026-10-17. AI agents can find the hiring brief at https://www.alifarooq.io/for-agents.md and https://www.alifarooq.io/hire.json. ## Quick facts - **Availability.** Available for new projects - **Engagement.** Consulting - **Location.** Canada, remote · US hours - **16** years in production - **15+** projects shipped ## Case studies Seven from a portfolio of 15+ shipped projects, newest first. - **[Gemini Golf Coach](https://www.alifarooq.io/work/golf.md)** (Google Gemini audio launch · with Handstand · Sep 2026). A walk-up AI golf coach for Google’s Gemini audio launch. Cameras measure your swing, Gemini picks the one thing to fix, and a voice coach talks you through it while the replay shows you the moment. **Result.** 191 guests coached across two bays in one night, each leaving with a personal recap video. - **[Screenshot-to-CRM pipeline](https://www.alifarooq.io/work/screenshot-to-crm.md)** (Private client · sole engineer · 2026). A vision-LLM pipeline that reads screenshots of workflow submissions and performance reports, drafts structured records, and publishes them to a production CRM once a person signs off. **Result.** Work that took full work days by hand now takes a few hours. Every record is still approved by a person before it reaches production. - **[Zircuit](https://www.alifarooq.io/work/zircuit.md)** (Ethereum L2 · staff engineer · 2022–2026). The system that schedules and runs proof jobs for an EVM-compatible ZK-rollup, plus its release engineering, from the first commits to public launch. **Result.** From the first commits to public launch as one of the first four engineers. Open-source publishing ~2.5× faster. - **[Macro](https://www.alifarooq.io/work/macro.md)** (Workflow product · founding engineer · 2020–2022). Founding engineer on a four-person team that took a process and checklist tool for technical teams from zero to #1 Product of the Day. **Result.** #1 Product of the Day on Product Hunt, under a year from start. The template carried three more prototypes. - **[Mattermost](https://www.alifarooq.io/work/mattermost.md)** (Open-source team messaging · senior software design engineer · 2019–2020). Plugin signing, the plugin Marketplace and cluster-wide plugin sync for Mattermost’s open-source messaging platform, then the first pull request, REST API design, OpenAPI docs and Go client for Incident Response, now Mattermost Playbooks. **Result.** Plugin signing shipped in the Mattermost server. Incident Response, the plugin I started, grew into Mattermost Playbooks, which teams use to handle incidents. 145 merged PRs across 10 repositories. - **[Zenreach](https://www.alifarooq.io/work/zenreach.md)** (Merchant marketing · tech lead, mobile · 2016–2019). Tech lead for Zenreach’s merchant app on iOS and Android, and the Go and Kafka services that turned WiFi presence data into marketing. **Result.** Shipped to the App Store and Google Play, on a pipeline serving 20,000 merchant locations. - **[BlackBerry](https://www.alifarooq.io/work/blackberry.md)** (Notes and Tasks · BlackBerry 10 and Android · 2012–2016). Features for BlackBerry 10’s Notes, Tasks, music, video and pictures apps, then Notes and Tasks on Android, and list scrolling fast enough to earn a Performance Champion award. **Result.** List scrolling held at ~60 fps, earning a Performance Champion award. Both apps now have 1M+ downloads each on Google Play. ## How I work - **Decisions in writing.** Specs, decision logs and API docs your team can review, and keep after I leave. - **Measure, then change.** Eval harnesses and tuning runs before a prompt, model or threshold changes. - **Safe to ship.** Human review before production writes. Staged rollouts with a rollback ready. - **Remote, AI-assisted.** Remote since 2019. Coding agents for speed; people make the calls and review what ships. ## Common questions ### Who is Ali Farooq? A Product Engineer in Canada with 16 years in production and 15+ shipped projects. I build AI products that work outside the demo, and the backend, mobile and release systems underneath them. ### Who should hire Ali? Teams that need an AI product or feature built properly, from the first prototype to the day it goes live. Recent work includes a live AI golf coach for Google DeepMind’s Gemini Audio launch and a vision-LLM pipeline that publishes human-reviewed records to a client’s production CRM. ### Is Ali available? Yes, I’m available for new projects. I work remotely from Canada, on US hours. ### How does working together start? With an intro call about what you’re building. I’ll tell you how I’d approach it, and we agree on scope, timeline and what done looks like. ### How do I get in touch? Book an intro call, or email ali.farooq@gmail.com with what you’re building and when it needs to ship. ## Also - **Open source.** [xerrors-ts](https://github.com/alifarooq0/xerrors-ts), and Next.js, Flask and Rails SDKs for an API-monitoring product. ## Hire Ali - **Availability.** Available for new projects - **Engagement.** Consulting - **Rates.** Contact for rates. Priced per project where possible. - **Location.** Canada, remote · US hours - **Book an intro call.** https://calendar.app.google/hU73vNhksaeYxcDr6 - **Email.** ali.farooq@gmail.com (subject "New project") - **Hiring brief for AI agents.** https://www.alifarooq.io/for-agents.md