He is currently the chief economist and assistant director general for the Economic and Social Development Department at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, Italy.

Between 2016 and 2018, he served as the executive director for Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay at the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C. Torero was the chief of party for a US$449.6 million investment (2007-2012) by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in rural infrastructure with a significant component of water and sanitation in El Salvador.

[1] Torero led the production of the reports, data and methodology with his team at IFPRI on El Salvador - Northern Transnational Highway.

His work, cited in “The Mystery of Capital Deepens” (The Economist, August 24, 2006),[3] shows that households with title were more likely to secure a loan from the government-backed Materials Bank.

In 2000, Maximo Torero and Javier Escobal won the award for their joint work on the geographical dimension of development, with the work titled “How to Face An Adverse Geography:The Role of Private and Public Assets”, Javier Escobal and Maximo Torero, GRADE (Outstanding Research on Development Award 2000).