Shamshad is currently the Manager of the ADB's Financial Sector and Industry Division (East). Having initally served as a Country Economist at the World Bank, she was appointed as Senior Economist in Country Operations at the ADB in 1990. She was responsible for handling structural adjustment operations in finance, trade and industry.

Shamshad has an M.S. in Economics from Quaid-E-Azam University in Pakistan, an M.A. in Development Economics from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and a Ph.D. in Economics from Paisley College of Technology in the United Kingdom. She was also a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University in 1987.