Rakesh Sood joined the diplomatic service in 1976 and served in the Indian missions in Brussels, Dakar, Geneva, and Islamabad in different capacities and also as Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington. In Delhi, Ambassador Sood served as Director (Disarmament) and set up the Disarmament and International Security Affairs Division which he led for eight years till end of 2000 as Joint Secretary (D&ISA), in the Foreign Ministry. During this period, he was responsible for multilateral disarmament negotiations, bilateral dialogues on CBMs with Pakistan, strategic dialogues with other countries especially after the nuclear tests in 1998, and India’s role in the ARF.
Subsequently, he has served as Ambassador and PR to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva (2001-04), Ambassador to Afghanistan (2005-08), Ambassador to Nepal (2008-11), and Ambassador to France (2011-13).
In September 2013, Ambassador Rakesh Sood was appointed Special Envoy of the Prime Minister for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Issues; he held this position till May 2014, when he retired from government. He is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.