The article examines how the experience of work in an institutional autonomy space shapes Indigenous Arab minority social workers’ strategic navigation, working within Israel’s internal colonialist structure, in a reality of ethno-national conflict. Applying a critical qualitative research paradigm, data were collected from forty-three semi-structured, in-depth interviews with social workers employed in official public and community services and underwent reflexive thematic analysis. A critical stance was adopted to expose institutional ‘taken-for-granted’ assumptions. The research findings delineate a Continuum of Professional Stances; a dynamic model that maps the social workers’ strategies, from compliance within a ‘narrow space,’ through strategic navigation and mediation to Indigenous sovereignty. Further analysis, grounded in Intersectionality Theory and the critical concept of ‘everyday resistance,’ demonstrates how progression along this continuum enables workers to develop from being ‘street-level bureaucrats’ to become transformative agents. The study’s unique contribution lies in conceptualizing professional navigation of a challenging reality as intersectional agency, which transforms identity tension into actionable power. It is concluded that supervision models and organizational autonomy need to be reformed to advance social justice in social work within exclusionary spaces.