Ali came to the UK as an asylum seeker in 2005 and finally became a naturalised citizen in 2018. Ali works as the Programme Manager Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust looking after the anti-racism, human rights and migration portfolio of grants. Previously he worked as the Brexit Lead for the Trades Union Congress for three years. Prior to that, he has a decade of experience in charities, government departments and business start-ups. Outside of the day job, he was the founding chair of EachOther (formerly RightsInfo) and a trustee of Safe Passage International.