From October 1995 to January 1998, Islam taught English at Khulna University.[4] He joined the 17th batch Bangladesh Civil Service in 1998 as a foreign service cadre.[2] He served as an Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 1999.[4] He was then the Vice Consul/First Secretary at the Bangladesh Consulate General in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 2002 to 2005.[4] He was the Counsellor (Political) at the Bangladesh Embassy in Madrid, Spain from 2005 to 2008.[4]
Islam was a Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2011.[4] He was the Counsellor (political) at the Bangladesh Embassy in Tripoli, Libya from 2011 to 2014. He was the Counsellor/Minister at the Bangladesh Embassy in Athens from 2014 to 2016.[4] He was the Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2023. He was the Additional Foreign Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2023.[4]
Islam was appointed the ambassador of Bangladesh to Indonesia in December 2023.[3] He is concurrently the Ambassador of Bangladesh to ASEAN.[6]