Al-Sakkaf worked as a systems analyst at the Arab Experts Center for Consultancy and Systems.[6] She joined the Yemen Times in July 2000 as a translator and reporter. The newspaper is the country's first independent English language newspaper and was started by her father in 1991. He died in 1999 after being hit by a car, although Al-Sakkaf and her brother believe he was assassinated for opposing the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.[2][7] She became an assistant editor in September 2000.[6]