On 9 January 2008, he was appointed as an adviser (cabinet minister) to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh, led by Fakhruddin Ahmed and was entrusted with the ministries of commerce and education.

[citation needed] Currently the Executive Chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC).

His PhD research focused on the sociology of colonial rule and emergence of the state in Bangladesh.

[1] Hossain Zillur Rahman was for twenty years a researcher at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)[citation needed] before founding the independent think tank Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) in 1996.

[5] Rahman led the internationally known Analysis of the Poverty Trends Project of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (1989–98).

[citation needed] In addition to poverty alleviation, he takes profound interest in governance problems of the less developed countries.