He specialized in Japan and at Uppsala University in Sweden and worked as a senior scientist in the research institutes of private companies such as Unilever (USA) and Rhône-Poulenc (France).

He actively participated in the development of the concept of the Operational Program Science and Education for Smart Growth and in the discussions for the Partnership Agreement for 2013–2020 between the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Commission.

[2] In 2019, Denkov was awarded the Solvay Prize of the European Colloid and Interface Society (ECIS) for his research achievements and he was elected a full member of the Academia Europaea.

When after the general election in November 2021 that We Continue the Change (PP) had the largest congressional faction was and could form a coalition capable of governing, Denkov became the education minister in the Cabinet of Kiril Petkov.

[2][3][4] Following the outcome of the Bulgarian parliamentary elections held in April 2023, on 22 May Denkov was projected to become Prime Minister of Bulgaria as part of a power-sharing agreement between the two most-voted coalitions, GERB—SDS and PP–DB.

[15] Although further negotiations in 2024 would be required to lift border controls by land,[15] this was a major diplomatic success for the Denkov-Gabriel cabinet, which aimed for а positive decision regarding Schengen Area membership by the end of 2023 as part of the five government priorities stated in July of the same year.

[17] However, on 25 March, Gabriel withdrew her nomination for prime minister after announcing that negotiations on forming a new government with PP-DB had failed, and said that new elections would be held.