[3] He spent most of his time in government at Ministry of Economy and Finance and its preceding agencies where he began and ended his career in public service at.

He took numerous economy and budgeting related roles in government ministries, Office of the President and presidential transition team.

Before being promoted to Moon Jae-in's first finance minister, he was the 15th president of Ajou University for two years.

[6][7] In August 2021, Kim announced that he would run for the 2022 South Korean presidential election.

[2][8] Kim withdrew his presidential candidacy in March 2022 after reaching an agreement with the ruling Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung on policy coalitions and joint government operations.