Ali Zayaan Shaafiu holds a Master's degree in Applied Economics and Policy from the University of Windsor and Bachelor's degrees in Economics and Teaching with Politics & International Studies from the University of Adelaide.

He has worked in the President's Office under two administrations, including serving as Director (non-political) in the Special Programs Unit of the President's Office, working on presidentially prioritised projects such as development of Regional Hospitals and decentralization policy, as well as work in the Policy Office. In this time, he worked on national-level projects such as introduction of basic telemedicine specialist consultation services to 55 islands and around 55,000 people. Zayaan has years of experience in data analysis, from early work in the Modelling & Forecasting Section of the Maldives Monetary Authority, to the development of Monitoring & Evaluation system for institutions around the country for the President's Office. His M&E work covered the full workflow from developing new data collection tools and formats to bring in fully clean and validated data daily for hundreds of variables, to maintaining datasets, to data analysis and statistical reporting including preparing weekly reports for the President and ministers. He has also trained data analysts including the Statistics Units of Dr Abdul Samad Memorial Hospital, and trained workers in advanced Excel and Tableau use for the workplace. This data was used for evidence-based decision-making on policies, operations, and budgets.

More recently, he has also worked on the consultant team for the development of the government's Strategic Action Plan in partnership with UNDP, been lead researcher for the Westminster Foundation for Democracy's Cost of Politics project, and provided policy expertise supporting the National Library of Maldives in developing new programs, action plans, and Social Council paper approving new buildings and expanded services. His policy interests include urbanism and liveability, state capacity, economic rights, social protections, and the relationship between policy and political environments.