[3] Macleod was called up to the first team squad for the first time for a league match versus Motherwell on 31 March 2012 and he remained an unused substitute during the 2–1 victory.
[7] He started the game and Rangers went through to the second round after a 2–1 extra-time victory, with Macleod's corner setting up the winning goal – a 102nd-minute header by Lee McCulloch.
[10] Macleod continued his starting run and good form through to January 2013, scoring in home and away matches versus Elgin City.
[15] Macleod began the 2013–14 Scottish League One season in good form, hitting four goals in a seven-game spell,[16] the most notable being an overhead kick in a 2–0 victory over Ayr United on 6 October 2013.
[17] He held down a regular starting place,[5] but again his season was cut short in January 2014, after an adverse reaction to a viral infection affected the muscles around his heart.
[13] Macleod made a successful recovery from his health problems and scored on his comeback in a closed-doors friendly at Rangers Training Centre versus Fulham in July 2014.
[26] He finally made his first appearance in a Brentford shirt with 45 minutes in a Development Squad defeat to Nottingham Forest on 28 March 2015,[27] but two weeks later, manager Mark Warburton ruled Macleod out of first team contention for the rest of the 2014–15 season.
[5] He remained an unused substitute during the 2–1 defeat and was replaced on the bench by Chris Long for the second leg, with the ensuing 5–1 aggregate loss ending Brentford's season.
[31][32][33][34] He finally made his first team debut versus Brighton & Hove Albion on 5 February 2016,[35] when he replaced Josh McEachran after 82 minutes of the 3–0 defeat.
[5][37] After returning to fitness for the 2016–17 pre-season,[38] Macleod made his first competitive start for the club on the opening day of the regular season,[39] playing 82 minutes of a 2–1 defeat to Huddersfield Town, before being replaced by Philipp Hofmann.
[5] Macleod made 12 further appearances before suffering a serious knee injury during a West London derby versus Queens Park Rangers on 28 October 2016.
[42] After recovering from the knee injury and then suffering a hamstring problem in October 2017,[43] Macleod made his first appearance for over 13 months as a second-half substitute for Sergi Canós in a 3–1 victory over West London rivals Fulham on 2 December 2017.
[51][52] On 17 August 2020, Macleod signed a one-year contract with newly promoted League One club Plymouth Argyle on a free transfer.
[56][57] In September 2021, it was reported that Macleod had undergone surgery during the 2021 off-season on the medial knee ligament problem which blighted his spell with Plymouth Argyle.
[65] On 14 October 2013, Macleod scored his first under-21 goal in a 2–1 defeat to Georgia and he made six appearances during Scotland's unsuccessful 2015 European U21 Championship qualifying campaign.
[67] On 4 November 2014, manager Gordon Strachan called Macleod into the senior Scottish squad for the first time, ahead of a Euro 2016 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland and a friendly against England.