Iqbal is the Global Executive Director of J-PAL, a center that began at the economics department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge and now has offices at many universities around the world. J-PAL promotes the use of rigorous evidence in social policy. He works with the Board of Directors to help formulate J-PAL’s worldwide strategy and with the leadership of the six regional offices to help execute it. He oversees the work of the global verticals (Research, Education, Training, Policy, Communications, Administration and Finance) and sectors programs (agriculture, crime, education, environment, gender, finance, firms, health, labor and governance). Iqbal is a member of J-PAL's Board of Directors and its Executive Committee; co-scientific director (with Esther Duflo) of the South Asia office, co-chair (with Abhijit Banerjee) of IGI - Innovations in Government Initiative, and co-chair (with Shawn Cole) of IDEA - Innovations in Data and Experiments for Action Initiative. He is also a board member of the NGO Noora Health. More at povertyactionlab.org/dhaliwal

He was the Deputy Executive Director of J-PAL in addition to continuing as the the founding Director of J-PAL's Policy and Communications vertical. In that role he also took over supervision of the Finance and Operations vertical, and was the interim Director of the Research, Education and Training vertical from 2016-17. More at povertyactionlab.org/dhaliwal

Founding Director of J-PAL's worldwide Policy and Communications vertical that is responsible for working with policymakers worldwide to make the transition from Evidence to Policy (E2P). More at povertyactionlab.org/dhaliwal

Iqbal was a Director in the Economic Analysis practice of Huron Consulting Group, a management consultancy. He managed numerous engagements involving analysis of antitrust issues, valuation, damage estimation, data mining, and strategy across a broad spectrum of industries. He is very proficient in industry research, data analysis, creation of expert reports and presentation of results. He had extensive experience working with clients in the private and public sector, attorneys, outside experts (professors) and members of his team. He started as a Manager at Huron.

Dean is a boutique strategy consulting firm. Iqbal worked on projects that included a Customer Relationship Management module for a large U.S. bank, and a pricing study for a global telecommunications company.

Iqbal secured the 1st rank among 300,000+ college graduates in the National Civil Services exam (79 hires nationwide) and joined the Indian Administrative Service, India's premier civil service. While in the IAS, he worked on many public policy issues during stints as a Deputy Secretary in a state government, Director of a state-wide welfare department, and Chairman and CEO of a publicly owned company. As Sub Collector of one of the largest divisions (county governments), he led a large bureaucracy that managed the implementation of many development programs in the field. More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Administrative_Service and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Services_Examination_(India)

As the manager of this low-cost private school from grades K-8, Iqbal helped raise capital and secure subsidized land from the state government to build the school. Recruited teachers, developed curriculum and taught middle school classes in science and mathematics.