Çiğdem has project implementation experience in South Asia, particularly India, Nepal and Bhutan, focusing on national and sub-national public resource management and fiscal policy, tax administration reform with IT applications, fiscal decentralization and local governance, financial sector development, and financial inclusion. Prior to ADB, she was an assistant professor of economics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a lecturer of economics at the George Washington University. Çiğdem also worked as a researcher on international trade and finance, and open economy macroeconomics at the International Monetary Fund and at the ADB Institute. She has published her research in several policy-oriented academic journals.