Rafeek Ghaly: A Software Engineer From Cairo, Coding Between Pyramids and Pixels

Selected work

• Heritage.AI (AI Research · AUC, 2026): Research assistant in AI & software engineering on responsible AI for museums in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, with AUC and Alwaleed Philanthropies.
• GEM E-Passport (1st Place · GEM Hackathon, 2025): A PWA for the Grand Egyptian Museum: scan artefact QR codes, collect stamps, export a printable passport.
• Heritage Egypt (GIS Platform, 2024): 200,000+ geospatial heritage records on PostgreSQL/PostGIS, with an interactive map of Old Cairo.
• One Person POV (Art E-Commerce, 2025): A production art gallery store with an admin dashboard, orders and local InstaPay payment flows.
• Scanify (Ordering App + Kiosk, 2025): Cart, checkout and real-time order flows for a restaurant ordering app and kiosk, built at Kian Solutions.
• Yalla (Ride-Sharing App, 2025): Ride management and backend integrations in Flutter and React Native, on GraphQL and AWS Amplify.
• SK Martial Arts (Gym Management System, 2025): QR attendance, class scheduling, loyalty and referrals across Flutter and React.
• Heritage Quest (Gamified Learning (EN/AR), 2025): A confidential client build: bilingual heritage quizzes with MCQ, swipe and multi-select rounds plus analytics.
• Food Save Circle (Startup · Red Bull Basement, 2024): Routing unsold university food to students at a discount. Top 10 at the Red Bull Basement Egypt national final.

About

I'm Not Just a Computer Engineer. I'm Someone Who Is Constantly Exploring.

I'm Rafeek Ehab El Amir Ghaly, a Computer & Communication Engineering student at Cairo University (class of 2028) and a Research Assistant in AI & software engineering on Heritage.AI at The American University in Cairo.

I believe learning shouldn't be limited to one path. The more you explore, the more you understand how things connect: SaaS dashboards, ride-sharing apps, museum passports, GIS maps of Old Cairo.

Most of my work sits where engineering meets Egyptian heritage. I build production systems alongside archaeologists and researchers, and now study how AI can help museums, so history becomes something you can navigate, not just preserve.

I enjoy building, but I also enjoy understanding, and sharing that knowledge with others, whether that's on a hackathon stage or on national television.

I also co-founded a small studio shipping web and mobile systems for real clients. Day to day I write Dart, TypeScript, Python and C++, ship with Flutter, React and Next.js, and lean on GraphQL, Supabase and PostgreSQL/PostGIS underneath. Git, Jira and Figma keep it honest.

For me, this is a long journey. And I intend to make the most of it.

Experience

• Research Assistant, AI & Software Engineering, Heritage.AI · The American University in Cairo (Jul 2026 – Present). Researching and developing AI and software for cultural heritage documentation, digital museum experiences and visitor engagement, under Dr. Yasser El Shayeb. Heritage.AI is an AUC initiative with Alwaleed Philanthropies across Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
• Co-Founder & Software Engineer, Software studio, Cairo (2025 – Present). Co-founded a studio that designs, builds and deploys web and mobile systems for clients. Owns architecture, deployments and delivery; built One Person POV (opvgallery.com).
• Technical Lead, GEM Hackathon & Incubation (2025 – Present). Led development of the winning Digital Visitor Passport, then joined a 6-week incubation programme to take it toward production at the Grand Egyptian Museum.
• R&D Contributor, Cultural Heritage Systems (2025 – Present). GIS and digital heritage platforms under Dr. Yasser El Shayeb (Cairo University & AUC), with archaeologists and Japanese research teams.
• Software Developer, Kian Solutions (Jun – Oct 2025). Intern turned part-time. Flutter and React Native apps: the Scanify ordering app and kiosk, the Yalla ride-sharing app, GraphQL and REST on AWS Amplify.

Awards and press

• Research Assistant · Heritage.AI: At the first Heritage.AI seminar, AUC, Cairo, October 2026.
• 1st Place · GEM Hackathon 2025: Technical lead of Team HACK100 at the Grand Egyptian Museum.
• Top 10 · Red Bull Basement: Pitching Food Save Circle at the Egypt national final.
• On Air · Al Shams TV: Talking AI, engineering and heritage on "Bel AI".
• On Air · Nile Culture TV: A guest on "Nawwart Masr".
• 3rd Place · 14th Research Day: Team Deviants, anomaly detection in IoT networks.

Skills

Dart, TypeScript, Python, C++, Flutter, React, Next.js, GraphQL, Supabase, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, WebGL, Three.js, GIS, AI for cultural heritage