He is currently the Principal Adviser in the European Commission's Inspire, Debate, Engage and Accelerate Action (IDEA) department.

Motoc has been a Romanian diplomat since the early 1990s, when he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania.

He joined the United Nations in 2003, where he spent five years working as the Permanent Representative of Romania.

In November 2015, he was appointed Minister of Defence in the Cioloș Cabinet[3] and held the position until January 2017.

He is married to Iulia Motoc, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights with whom he has one son, Luca-Mihnea.