Sam's abroad, working as a diplomat (10)
I believe the answer is:
ambassador
'a diplomat' is the definition.
(ambassador is a kind of diplomat)
'sam's abroad working' is the wordplay.
'working' indicates anagramming the letters.
'sams'+'abroad'='samsabroad'
'samsabroad' with letters rearranged gives 'AMBASSADOR'.
'as' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for ambassador that I've seen before include "delegate" , "Messenger" , "Overseas envoy" , "In a different case, he could be" , "accredited diplomat" .)