Ali is the Chief Executive at the Youth Sport Trust, an independent charity devoted to building a brighter future for young people through the power of sport. Ali joined the Youth Sport Trust in 2004 as a member of the senior leadership team and became the CEO in 2015. Prior to this Ali was the Deputy Director of Sport at the University of Bath having joined as the course leader for the Physical Education PGCE course. Before this Ali was Head of PE at Millfield School, having started her career as teacher in Essex. Ali was awarded an honorary doctorate of the University of Bath in 2019, and in 2020 was awarded the Best Leader Award (for not for profit organisations) by the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies.