In 1999-2000 Mahmutaj worked for the British Red Cross assisting in the re-settlement of Kosovar refugees in the UK shortly after NATO's intervention in Kosovo. In 2005-2006 she worked as a radio presenter for the BBC World Service, Albanian Section. Mahmutaj was called to the Bar of England &amp; Wales in 2005, becoming the first Albanian national to qualify as a barrister in the United Kingdom.