Before assuming his current position as a senior lecturer in development studies at the University of Western Sydney (UWS), Zulfan was a lecturer in economics. He had visiting research appointments at the Queen Elizabeth House (QEH) of the University of Oxford (UK) and at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands). He was a technical advisor on decentralization and conflict at the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) in Indonesia and a researcher at the UN Support Facility for Indonesian Recovery (UNSFIR) and World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).