He was a very able mariner and soon rose in the ranks, gaining sufficient prize booty to buy a share in a corsair brigantine sailing out of Algiers. Further success soon enabled him to become the captain and owner of a galley, and he gained a reputation as one of the boldest corsair reis on the Barbary Coast. Uluj Ali was in the fleet of Turgut Reis, one of the most famous corsairs in the Mediterranean, as well as an Ottoman admiral and Bey of Tripoli. Sailing with Turgut Reis, he also impressed the Ottoman admiral Piyale Pasha, with whom Turgut joined forces on a number of occasions. Due to his success in battles, the administration of the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea was awarded to him in 1550. In 1560, he was among the forces of Turgut Reis and Piyale Pasha during the Battle of Djerba. In 1565 he was promoted to the rank of Beylerbey (Chief Governor) of Alexandria. The same year he joined the Siege of Malta with the Ottoman Egyptian fleet, and when Turgut Reis was killed during the siege, Piyale Pasha appointed Uluj Ali to become Turgut's successor as Bey of Tripoli. Uluj took Turgut's body to Tripoli for burial, assumed control of the province, and was subsequently confirmed as Pasha of Tripoli by Sultan Suleiman I. In the following years he conducted numerous raids on the coasts of Sicily, Calabria and Naples.