Since 2016, Mahdi as served as the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development in the Government of Kuwait. Prior to this appointment, he was the Assistant Secretary General for the Follow-up and Future Forecasting besides being the Acting Assistant Secretary General for Planning.
Mahdi sits in several government boards and higher committees, mainly the Public Authority for Industry (PAI), Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI), and the Public Authority for Housing and Welfare (PAHW).He is a member of the Supreme Council for Education and is on the Board of Trustees of the National Center for Education Development (NCED). He serves as member in high-level committees such as the Economic and Fiscal Reform Monitoring Committee , the Humanitarian Foreign Aid Committee, Fiscal Budgeting Framework, Kuwait Demographic Disparities Committee, the Development of Kuwait Islands Committee, the Executive Committee of the Silk City, Kuwait Master Plan 2040 Committee, Kuwait Bond Debut Roadshow, and the Kuwait University Mega Projects Committee.
He also serves other government sub-committees and leading government work groups, and has spoken extensively at national and international conferences, such as the Kuwait Housing & Residential Development Forum and Kuwait Infrastructure Week in 2017.
Mahdi chairs the Consultants Selection Committee during the period  2016-2017 and is the National Director of the Country Program Action Plan of the United Nations Development Programme in Kuwait, and currently presides over the National Committee for the Implementation of Agenda 2030.
Mahdi steers chairs the national SDGs 2030 permanent standing committee and leads the vision of the state, “New Kuwait 2035”. He established the Kuwait Public Policy Center (KPPC) and its Nudge Unit; also oversees the research centers including The National Knowledge Economy Center, the National Sustainable Development Observatory and the National Development Research Center. He also led the initiative to produce Kuwait’s first Macro-Economic Model by collaborating with Oxford Economics. He has also hosted the IPIECA’s report “the Mapping the Oil and Gas Industry to the SDGs: An Atlas”, and the World Energy Outlook 2018’s report of the IEO. Mahdi has also developed strategic partnerships with local, regional and international organizations to support knowledge sharing and development.