She modeled for a calendar which caught the eye of Afzal Hossain, who later offered her work on a promotional advertisement for the soft drink Coca-Cola.

She established her reputation as an actress with roles as Monika in Labonyo Probha, Pushpo in Toukir Ahmed and Bipasha Hayat's teleplay Shonkhobash, and in Hatkura.

Adapted from the novel Nishiddho Loban by Syed Shamsul Huq, the film was based on the events of the Bangladesh Liberation War.

It narrates the tale of Bilkis Banu, played by Ahsan, a freedom fighter, who actively participates in the Liberation War while searching for her lost husband.

Ekti Bangali Bhuter Golpo was set for a world TV premier in Kolkata on 17 May in Zee Bangla Cinema.

Jaya's much anticipated Rajkahini starring alongside Rituparna Sengupta, Abir Chatterjee, Parno Mittra, Sohini Sarkar, Rajatava Dutta and many others was released on 16 October 2015.

Her other two releases that year are Akram Khan's Khacha: The Cage and Manoj Michigan's Ami Joy Chatterjee.

In 2018, Ahsan performed in a courtroom drama Ek Je Chhilo Raja based on the historic Bhawal case directed by Srijit Mukjerji in a star cast including Jisshu Sengupta, Aparna Sen, Anjan Dutt, Rudranil Ghosh and others.

[18][19] In 2019, her first release was Kaushik Ganguly's Bijoya, sequel to Bishorjan for which she won the Tele Cine Awards for Best Actress and Best Jodi alongside her co-star Abir Chatterjee.

[20] Then she was seen in Arnab Paul's debut Brishty Tomakey Dilam, a psychological thriller based on split personality disorder.

Jaya again worked with Atanu Ghosh next film titled Robibar starring with Prosenjit Chatterjee for the first time.

She wrapped up filming Alatchakra, the first 3D Bengali movie directed by Habibur Rahman based on the novel by Ahmed Sofa.

She recently worked with Piplu Khan on his first feature film Jaya Aar Sharmin based on the current pandemic.

In December 2023, Ahsan made her Bollywood debut in Kadak Singh, a thriller film by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury released on Zee5.

[25] Media reports speculated a romantic relationship between Ahsan and director Srijit Mukherji during the filming of Bishorjan (2017).