From 2004 to 2010 she was Director General of Cairo's Egyptian Museum. She was the museum's first female director. As director, El Saddik says that she received numerous politically motivated bids for funding for the museum. El Saddik claimed that the museum created a daily income of around one million Egyptian pounds, but most of this money was transferred to the central government rather than being spent there. In her book "Protecting Pharaoh's Treasures", El Saddik said that she had predicted the Egyptian revolution of 2011, saying that she had believed it would be similar to the Tunisian Revolution. In October 2010, she was chosen by then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to select artefacts for an exhibition in Rome. Her choices were later rejected. She was forced into leaving her role at the museum in December 2010, as she had reached retirement age.