After his architectural studies, Mahmoud Riad obtained a Masters in Urban Design from Liverpool University in 1933. Prior to his graduation, he interned at Shreve, Lamb & Harmon in New York. He then returned to Cairo, where he was employed at the Ministry of Wakfs, becoming Head of the Architecture and Engineering Department in 1939. In 1949, he became the Director General of the Social Housing Division in the Ministry of Social Affairs. He left the Municipality in 1965, and was appointed Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Public Works in Kuwait, where he was involved in projects like Kenzo Tange's Kuwait International Airport, VBB's Water Towers, and Jorn Utzon's National Assembly Building. 
His notable buildings include the Arab League Headquarters (1955-1958), the Cairo Municipality (1958) and several apartment and office buildings in Cairo’s downtown commissioned by Misr Insurance Company. He is also the planner of Madinat al-Awqaf (1945), which later became known as Muhandeseen in Cairo. (Mohamed El Shahed)