The son of Peter Wormald CB and Elizabeth née North, he was educated at Rutlish School in Merton before going up to St John's College, Oxford, graduating BA (1990).

In 2009, he moved to the Cabinet Office as the Head of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat, succeeding Sir Paul Britton.

[2][4] In March 2012, Wormald left the Cabinet Office to return to the Department for Education as its Permanent Secretary, replacing Sir David Bell, who had retired to be the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading.

[6] In January 2016 it was announced that Wormald would transfer to the Department of Health and Social Care later in 2016, replacing Dame Una O'Brien after her retirement as its Permanent Secretary.

[10] He was criticsed for his role during the Covid pandemic with the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice stating, “Time and again, Christopher Wormald has refused in the UK Covid Inquiry to accept failures on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care, despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary, backed up by the experiences of everyone in the UK during the pandemic,”.