[6] After receiving his bachelor's degree from the Hamburg Institute of Foreign Trade in 1974, he completed his military service in the Yugoslav army, and soon after joined an Austrian company, for which he worked as a sales representative for ex-Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Poland and Russia.

[7][8] In 1974, Pacolli started his career as a foreign language correspondent and deputy director for development at the Textile Enterprise in Gjilan.

[11][12] In early 1999, Swiss authorities opened an investigation and on 22 January 1999 searched the Mabetex office in Lugano, but the federal prosecutor's office dismissed the case against Pacolli in March 1999, as no incriminating evidence was found,[13][14][15][16] partially due to a lack of cooperation from the Russian investigation of Pavel Borodin, the former Head of the Presidential Property Management Department of the Russian Federation.

During this time, Pacolli collaborated with many important figures in world politics, especially American leaders, such as Frank Carlucci, Morton Abramovitz, S. Waterman, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Janusz Bugajski, Henry Kissinger, and many others.

For four years, he was also a member of the board of trustees of the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS),[20] in the Committee led by Henry Kissinger, during which time he continued his lobbying efforts towards creating the appropriate conditions for declaring Kosovo an independent country.

[32] He left the role (though without formally resigning) on 4 April 2011, after the Constitutional Court of Kosovo had ruled that his election procedure had been irregular.

[33] Nicolas Mansfield, Director of Rule of Law programs for the East-West Management Institute (EWMI) explains that the Constitutional Court held Pacolli's election unconstitutional for two reasons.

Ultimately, Pacolli's case helped improve Kosovo's score for Judicial Framework and Independence in the 2012 Nations in Transit report.

[34] After his withdrawal from the president's office, Pacolli decided to continue the co-governance and took on the role of the first deputy prime minister of the Republic of Kosovo.

[39] After meeting with Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec in December 2017, Pacolli managed to negotiate the establishing of a Committee for Economic Cooperation with Slovenia at ministerial level.

Kosovar media reported that Pacolli and Pope Francis would discuss the peaceful coexistence between different communities and religions in Kosovo.

Pope Francis encouraged Masha Pacolli to continue working with women who were traumatized as a result of the armed conflict.

As outgoing Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister, Pacolli and his family personally donated 1 million euros to the relief effort.

[5] On 28 October 2004, after helping run a presidential election,[47] the three United Nations workers Annette Flannigan, Angelito Nayan and Shqipe Hebibi, were taken hostage in Kabul.

[52] In his 2017 book "The Trade", Jere van Dyk describes that Pacolli paid a ransom to a Taliban tribal leader.

[58] On 15 August 2011, American-Kosovar Lobbyist James Berisha was arrested by the Eritrean police on a mission to recognise Kosovo's independence.

In 1993, Pacolli established "Les Enfants du Sakha", presently known as "Ibrahim Kodra Foundation" a fund with the stated goal of providing help in the medical care, education and recreation of children.

In 2008, he financed the reconstruction and restoration of the Mosque of Llap in Prishtina, a building which is enlisted as part of the cultural heritage of Kosovo.