He is the eldest son of I Gede Kawijaya, S.H and Made Sutini, who also served as a civil servant with the last position as the chief of the National Land Agency for the Provincial Government of Bali.

Ngurah attended Udayana University in Bali from 1981 to 1986 majoring in law, and later got his master's degree as Master of Arts (MA), from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA.

Ngurah joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1986, and got his first assignment as the Third Secretary at the Indonesian Embassy to the Federal Republic of Germany, in Bonn from 1991–1995.

[3] He was sworn in by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Indonesia to the Kingdom of Cambodia on January 30, 2009, from 2009–2010.

[4] He presented the letter of credence from the President of the Republic of Indonesia to His Majesty, the King of Cambodia Norodom Sihamoni on April 22, 2009.