Minister Waszczykowski graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and History at the University of Łódz (1980), Poland, and from the Department of International Studies at the University of Oregon (1991), United States. He also pursued postgraduate studies in international security and arms control at the Geneva Center for Security Policy in Switzerland (1992-1993). In 1993, he was awarded a PhD in history for his dissertation The United States and the Strategic Disarmament Negotiations 1919-36. From 1981 to 1987, he worked as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Łódz.

The chief of the Polish diplomatic service started his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the early 1990s. In 1992, he became a Senior Expert in the United Nations System Department and the European Institutions Department. In 1996, he was appointed Deputy Director of the European Institutions Department and then of the Security Policy Department. In 1997, he became Head of Poland’s Liaison Office to NATO in Brussels and went on to serve as Deputy Permanent Representative of Poland at the newly created diplomatic mission to the North Atlantic Alliance (1997-1999). Minister Waszczykowski also served as Poland’s Ambassador to Iran (1999-2002). In 2003, he worked at the Department of Foreign Policy Strategy and Planning and in 2005 he became Deputy Director of the Department of Africa and the Middle East. Between 2005 and 2008, he was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, also serving as the chief negotiator during Poland-US missile shield talks.

In 2008, Minister Waszczykowski was appointed Deputy Head of the National Security Bureau. In 2011, he was elected to the Polish Sejm as a member of Law and Justice party and then re-elected in October 2015. Since November 2015 he has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Beata Szydło.