[4] After graduating from Harvard, Lakhdhir travelled to China, where she stayed for two years, teaching English and American history.

Then for two years, Lakhdhir served as director of the Office of Maritime Southeast Asia, which is in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, an organization responsible for U.S. relations with the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, and Timor-Leste.

[8] In 2009, Lakhdhir moved to Northern Ireland, where she served as U.S. Consul General in Belfast for two years before accepting an assignment as Executive Assistant to Under Secretary for Political Affairs.

[9] Lakhdhir was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as United States Ambassador to Malaysia on 16 June 2016 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on 10 December 2016.

On May 21, 2018, Lakhdhir met with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at his Perdana Leadership Foundation office, congratulating him on his electoral win and welcoming the opportunity to work with him and his cabinet.

[13] Lakhdir also welcomed U.S. participation in Pacific Partnership 2018, the Asia-Pacific's largest humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief preparedness mission, which ran from February through June 2018.