Al Shamsi started his academic career at UAE University as an associate professor, later holding the position of Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research where he founded a University-wide Internship and Work Integrated Learning (iWIL) program.[8] Prior to his appointment in HCT, Al Shamsi was the Managing Director of the Institute of Applied Technology (IAT)[9] from 2007 until the end of 2014, where he managed the Applied Technology High Schools (ATHS),[10] Fatima College for Health Sciences,[11] and Abu Dhabi Polytechnic since the inception.[12]