Ross McLeod began his professional career as a civil engineer, but soon switched to become an economist. He is now Adjunct Associate Professor in the Indonesia Project, Arndt-Corden Division of Economics, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, at The Australian National University.

He has worked in and on Indonesia in various capacities—postgraduate student, consultant and academic researcher—since 1978, and is a fluent Indonesian speaker.

From October 1998 through September 2011 he was Editor of the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies at ANU, a journal that has provided continuous commentary on the Indonesian economy since 1965. He was also an Associate Editor of Agenda, a journal of policy analysis and reform, published by the Faculty of Economics and Commerce at ANU, from 2001 until 2005.