Akif belongs to the Pakistan Administrative Service and was promoted to the rank of Federal Secretary by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2016.

A topper of the 1982 CSS examinations, Akif is known for his performance as Director General of Pakistan's Hajj mission in Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2015 and later as the country's longest serving Climate Change Secretary.

In the subsequent training at the Civil Services Academy, Syed Akif was declared the Best All Round Trainee Officer.

Under his supervision, Pakistani ratified the Paris Climate Agreement, submitted its INDCs, signed the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and declared its first Marine Protected Area at Astola Island.

[4][5][6] After retiring from active government service in August 2018, Akif was offered and accepted a position as a Member of the Prime Minister's Inspection Commission where he served for over three years.

M. Zafar Iqbal, Teachers Training, the Islamic Perspective, Islamabad, Institute of Policy Studies, 1996, pp 340.

S. M. Hasanuz Zaman, Economic Guidelines in the Qur’an, Islamabad, International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1999, pp. 398.

Editorial consultant to USIA for the book Shumali Amrika kay Musalman (authorized translation of Y. Haddad and Jane Smith (eds.

[Annotated translation of impressionistic writings on Japan by South Asian Muslim writers and Pakistani authors.

[Refugee is an autobiography of a Pakistani caught up in the East Pakistan crisis in which seven members of his family (Parents and five siblings) were massacred by Bengali nationalists.]

Syed Akif takes a keen personal interest in intellectual dialogue and writing and non-profit activities.

AKif was the Vice-President, East-West Center Participants’ Association, Hawaii (1999) & is currently the head of the EWC Alumni Assn., Islamabad Chapter.