Francis worked at the Trinidad and Tobago consulate in Toronto, Canada, from 1988 to 1996, including as Deputy Consul General, before becoming deputy director of International Economic and Trade Relations at the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1996 and Director of the European Affairs Division of the Ministry in 1997.[5] In 1999 he was appointed ambassador-designate to Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti as well as high commissioner to Jamaica, and the following year he began a four-year term as his country's representative to the International Seabed Authority.[5] From 2004 to 2006 he served as ambassador to the Dominican Republic before being appointed as permanent representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations Office at Geneva.[5] Between 2006 and 2011 he also represented his country at other international organisations in Geneva and Vienna, and was the non-resident ambassador to Austria and Italy. From 2012 until his retirement in 2016, he led the Directorate for Multilateral Relations at the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[1]