Son of Giacomo Doria and Bettina De Franchi, he was born in Genoa around 1540.

The family, extremely wealthy, descendant of the Admiral Lamba Doria, was made up of three male children, among them Nicolò Doria who was doge of Genoa in the biennium 1579-1581, and five sisters.

He was the third member of the family to hold the highest dogal position after his older brother and uncle Giovanni Battista Doria in the two years 1537-1539.

Doria was elected Doge of Genoa on 24 February 1601, the thirty-eighth in biennial succession and the eighty-third in republican history.

After the end of his Dogate, on 25 February 1603, he was appointed perpetual prosecutor.