Griffin is a trained Mechanical Engineer and prior to his election to North Lanarkshire Council in 2008, he was a serving soldier in the British Territorial Army (TA).

[citation needed] When Jim Murphy was elected Scottish Labour Party leader in December 2014, Griffin was appointed as Shadow Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages, covering school education, qualifications, science, HM Inspectorate of Education, the Scottish Qualifications Authority and languages.

[citation needed] Upon his election at the age of 25, Griffin became the youngest Member of the Scottish Parliament since its establishment in 1999.

Through his work with the Cross Party Group on Deafness, he put the British Sign Language (BSL) (Scotland) Bill through Parliament.

However, the seat was held by the Scottish National Party's Jamie Hepburn and Griffin was returned again on the Central Scotland regional list.