Uhlmann was formerly a seminarian, a security guard, and a journalist with The Canberra Times before joining the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a radio producer in 1998.
In July 2017, Uhlmann's 2-minute report[7] for ABC's Insiders on Donald Trump's appearance at the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit went viral, and he was interviewed extensively in the United States, on various television networks.
[9] In August 2018, amid the 2018 Liberal Party leadership spill, Uhlmann gained popularity again on social media when he appeared on Today, where he stated that the Sky News television channel, 2GB radio station and News Corp Australia were "waging a war" against Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull.
[19] With Steve Lewis, Uhlmann has written a series of political novels set in Canberra: The Marmalade Files (2012), The Mandarin Code (2014) and The Shadow Game (2016).
[20] These feature a political reporter, Harry Dunkley, investigating a conspiracy involving China, the US and Australian security organisations.