Dias was a nurse by profession.[1] He was a nurse at the Unidade Local de Saúde do Baixo Alentejo (ULSBA) from 1996 to 2018.[2][3] He also worked at the Unidade de Cuidados Continuados do Centro de Saúde de Beja.[4][5] He was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Évora (2012 to 2018), University of Coimbra (2018 to 2018) and Escola Superior de Enfermagem São José de Cluny (2015).[2][3] He also taught at the Escola Superior de Saúde da Cruz Vermelha (2017) and Escola Superior de Saúde Lopes Dias (2016 to 2018).[3] He has worked with the Portuguese Red Cross, the University of Minho and the Castelo Branco Polytechnic Institute.[2]
Dias has been active in politics since 1996 and is a board member of the Portuguese Communist Party's Beja branch.[2][4] He was a member of the municipal council in Beja from 2017 to 2021.[6] At the 2015 legislative election Dias was placed third in the Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)'s list of candidates in Beja but the alliance only won a single seat in the constituency.[7] He was appointed to the Assembly as permanent member in March 2018 following the resignation of João Ramos.[2][8] He was re-elected at the 2019 and 2022 legislative elections.[9][10] At the 2024 legislative election Dias was placed first in the CDU's list of candidates in Beja but the alliance failed to win any seats in the constituency.[11]