Prior to his joining the Blavatnik School in 2016, Woolf's academic career had been spent at University College London (UCL), where he was, latterly, Professor of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

[2][3] Following a year spent as a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University, he taught at UCL thereafter until 2016, ending his career there as Professor of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

As a scholar on the topic of Marxism, Wolff published "Marx and Exploitation", an article about Marxist thinking, in The Journal of Ethics.

[7][14] Jonathan Wolff presented a four-part series about the UK's National Health Service (NHS) for the BBC's Radio 3 programme The Essay during the week of 27 July 2009.

[15] The series, entitled "Doctoring Philosophy", marked the 60th anniversary of the NHS and commenced by studying the philosophical background which led to the foundation of the service and the changing definitions of sickness and health.